My mother, illustrious in the kingdoms of the Orient <br />Is seated surrounded by water <br />The water forms a belt around her, a boat. <br />This's the threshold of infancy <br />The step which leads into the past <br />Is filled up by the sea. <br /> <br />You're accoutred as a very old princess <br />In dire age-old poverty <br />A sack tied to the small of your back <br />An ashen camisole. <br />The odour of the humus in autumn <br />Tames me into accepting your disappearance. <br /> <br />Your face is the wind that blows on me <br />Another wind blows past the back of my eyes. <br />Since you are now eternally <br />Impenetrable and black <br />Impenetrable and black. <br />Even with stars twinkling from time to time <br />The way out was impossible. <br /> <br />Now that you are dead some twenty years <br />I understand that my dreams <br />Speak in your voice. <br />My premonitions indicate to what extent I loved you <br />I who was ashamed <br />Of your derangement. <br />Heavy are the tears of love flowing in me <br />Huge and tenderly <br />And it's like a change in the seasons <br />The change in reason <br />All that was atrocious and absurd to me <br />Makes some sense to me now. <br /> <br />Mother, you wished that your son <br />Became a drogman in the kingdoms of the Orient <br />In order to be able to explain your plight. <br />Today as a sleeper I return <br />To the brink of an infancy <br />Which is my death <br />Perhaps I assume this truth. <br />My dreams form the crest of your discourse <br />Their coherence is their ocean <br />Your shadow, lonely seagull and savage <br />Is my spirit <br /> <br /> <br />• Don't quite know what this word means, unless it's etymological origins are to be found in the Arabic « tarjuman », meaning « translator ». <br /> <br />(Tu, O.C. t. II, p.531) <br /> <br />© T. Wignesan - Paris,2014<br /><br />T (no first name) Wignesan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/drogman-translation-of-pierre-emmanuel-s-drogman-by-t-wignesan/
