2023-10-12

 

--Nathalie Handal

There  is a  sorceress in our night.  A  sky  that  only  moves  memory to
make place  for  the  mangoes of last month.  There is an old man who
says, Libére moi.  And  means,  Take  everything   but  my  blackness.
Only in the dark do doves  find   reason.  Only  in  the  dark  do  doves
have reason to believe that vengeance  is  light  hanging  on  fallen  tree.
After each  fall, we  ask, where is the   island,   the  sugarcane  that
disappeared in  our hunger,  the  water that emptied  our  thirst, 
the song that  robbed our  nightmare?   They  mock  us. They  tell  us
to  whisper in their ears. They will obey.  But  curses  beat  the air wild.
The air is faint. And they tell us, Stop plotting fire. You are in the wrong
land even if the roosters recognize you. They hated our black. What
they didn't understand is that it illuminates their world.


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