A cesariana dos três continentes The Caesarean of Three Continents

A cesariana dos três continentes

Antes
da moeda do corpo Ao capital da alma
Antes da luz
no mar da memória
E da pedra & vento na erosão do rosto
Éramos no verão da terra
A semente sem primavera
Éramos a exclamação
Do lon na lonjura
Dando
Pernas aos montes E braços às montanhas
Dando face & sentido
Às dunas do mar alto
Que respiram
as coxas
os seios
o sexo de Sahel
 
Lembro-me de ti! na África do teu ventre
Interrogando-se
sobre o istmo + a
proa do nosso destino
Quando pólos e penínsulas de maremoto
Rasgaram & rasgavam
No vórtice da vida! na fractura da terra
A cesariana dos três continentes
 
Ficamos umbigos de pedra
Em rodopio
Entre a pele e o osso das estações
Ficámos então ilha + ilha
sobre o vento
pelo arquipélago da evasão
 
*
 
Assim! foi a pronúncia
Antes & depois do 1.° dia + a
Erosão da crónica
na boca da “Rotcha Scribida”
 

The Caesarean of Three Continents

Before
the body was coin and the soul Kapital
Before the light
on the remembered sea
And the erosion of the face by stone and wind
We lived inside the summer of the earth
The seed that had no spring
We were the exclamation
Of the ‘di' in distance
 
We gave
Legs to the hills and arms to the mountains
Gave a face and a meaning
To the dunes of the high seas
That breathe out
the thighs
the breasts
the sex of the Sahel
 
I remember you! In Africa your womb
Enquiring of yourself
about the isthmus + the
prow of our destiny
When poles, peninsulas and tidal waves
Tore and tore in the vortex of life! In the fracture of earth
The Caesarean of the three continents
 
We became navels of stone
revolving
Between the skin and bone of the seasons
We became island and island
beyond the wind
in the evasive archipelago
 
Thus it was pronounced
Before & after the 1st day + the
Erosion of the chronicle
In the mouth of the Written Stone
 

‘Rotcha Scribida’: These words are not Portuguese, but Kriolu. They refer to a rock on the São Nicolau island which is inscribed with a message in a written language that has not been deciphered. It points to the presence of other peoples on the island long before the Portuguese arrived. The markings are now very hard to make out, erosion having taken their toll on them.

Original Poem by

Corsino Fortes

Translated by

Daniel Hahn with Sean O’Brien Language

Portuguese

Country

Cape Verde