Là-bas y’a tout

It would appear that in the Babtous country

it is not like being in Bantous country

people say that everything is there; everything is there

the sun does not burn

hunger does not kill

fire is gentle, tame and docile

sometimes it rains water

sometimes it is cotton balls.

I’m not Kounta Kinté But, who are you ?

Who are you ?

I am not Kounta Kinté

Who are you who are you?

I am Africa…the Third World

An African with a dark fate

I am the damned of the earth

I am the red flesh that feeds your barbed wire

this gigantic iron wall

darkened by the blood

of contemporary explorers

never understood and caught in a trap

like those cursed boar

worn out from rushing

worn out from sobbing

I’m not Kounta Kinté But, who are you ?

Who are you ?

I am not Kounta Kinté

Who are you who are you ?

I faced this barrier this huge metal barrier

that leaves one on the brink of society

a symbol of rejection scorn for the less well off

tanned people who are too dark-skinned

to lighten the promised land

I carry inside me the spirits

the souls of 14 000 drowned

14 000 drowned in anonymity

off the murderous coasts

the sparkling palaces

that dazzle you until you are blind

on the opposite bank

I’m not Kounta Kinté But, who are you ?

Who are you ?

I am not Kounta Kinté

Who are youwho are you?

Gibraltar,

you want my hide, you will not get it

your attempts at dissuasion

scarcely intimidate me

I want to see the promised land and I will be there

I will see it because my destiny wants me to be

there

so neither your handcuffs

your insignificant little handcuffs

nor your nasty stretch of salt water

that feeds its sharp toothed sharks

without scruples

even less so your barbed wire that impatiently

awaits

to voraciously bite

what is closest to my skin

Gibraltar you want my hide, you won’t get it

in any case

there it is better than here, people tell me

in any case

there it is better than here, people tell me

It would appear that in the Babtous country

it is not like being in Bantous country

people say that everything is there; everything is there

the sun does not burn

hunger does not kill

fire is gentle, tame and docile

sometimes it rains water

sometimes it is cotton balls.

BANG SING YITING

That’s how life goes

sons who dream of bettering themselves

that’s how death comes

for those who fade in despair

that’s how the child goes

in the depth of wild dreams

bring back happiness, for his dear Mother

Hey Mother, I will remove

the scars of survival on your angel’s body sleep

I will go out, to look for gold

so that you can yet live without remorse

up until death

failing being eternal

Mother, I will go there

in order to be able to manage here

from here it is impossible when misery has taken

you for its target

when it deprives you of the edible minimum

when it aims at you

then riddles you

I will go there

in order to manage our problems

let me try my luck

we have got to get out of this turmoil

Mother, I will go there

it is better than if I wandered here

the others were able to do it, I must succeed too

I have had more than enough of sitting with my

arms folded

you know Mother, here, I’ve really tried everything

the solution can only be elsewhere

with my PhD I am only a tailor

wandering with an obsolete machine

to sew pogos shorts for pittance

Mother bless me, I will make you proud

as sure as I can feel my dignity dying

on a low heat, on a low heat

I must leave because the worst is imminent

you have to choose between never and now

Le destin

What do they care if your life is a failure ?

euthanasied they are, their hearts are no more

beating,

love is getting suck and human beings looking

ugly.

Now, our discomfort is visible,

even in the more introverted oneworld of

intrigues,

extreem intransigence where the look takes first

place.

My life is a failure because, for all I

undertake,

I am in the last position again, if I ever give in,

I hope nobody will be cross with me

so many years, slaving away like a convict,

lugging my distress waiting for the death that's

like

such is life, whether you like it or not,

some are born with a golden spoon in the

mouth,

and grow from Alpha to Omega,

on the other side some are born in the distress,

born in the dryness,

well, all their life long they must take it,

grin and bear it stand the weight of griefs all their

life long

everyone gets its safety in resisting.

A good way of life, I don't know it, beautiful towns,

even less,

I struggle for life success, I look at sites, but I am no

more excited,

my life is a sitcom, the more I live, the less men

are surprised,

I pray that my people get on well. This is my hesitating life story,

will I pay the price for so many faults done ?

like a horse nobody backs bets on ?

I am induced to say that life is a bitch,

for all his favours, you have to pay the price.

How many men like me set themselves goals

and life forced them to follow Satan's work.

My life is a failure, henceforth you know it,

the same don't wait for the death, if your own life is,

claim your failure,

whimpering isn't my forte, I implore God and I come

back stronger :

People is born alike, maybe they live

differently,

but they die alike, each get his own fate they tell

me, hell !

Why our own fate is so mean the hard labour, we

know it as teenagers,

I'll blaspheme if I tell you I was found of it. From now,

I intend going forward.

Destination : the top, with hell or high water, coming

ahead of the fate,

ruling it as I please, moving mountains like

Moses the prophet.

Even if I know that this life is not easy,

my choice is to face cutting words and all kinds

of insults

I started like a baby, on all fours, ten years later I

didn't change of course.

To go to that point, it took me time.

My course, you know it, is obstacle course.

MAGIE MAGIE

Magie magie hou haaaa here they are

they exchanged their wands for magic

speeches

magie magie hou haaaa here they are

they guarantee us the dream without the fear of

disappointment

Magie magie hou haaaa here they are

they exchanged their wands for magic

speeches

magie magie hou haaaa here they are

they guarantee us the dream without the fear of

disappointment

Let’s shut our doors to the incarnate lie to personified

demons

they exchanged their wands for magic

speeches

let’s flee from them

they are at the origin of the exodus of our

intellectuals great experts for exodus of capital

you have to capture them early on distinctive sign

too rich to be saints

they do not sing but they want our voices

it is complicated because they don’t want to see us

They don’t care, power makes them mad, mad

They don’t care, power makes them mad, mad

You know that here on earth everything can be negotiated even worse

everything can be forged these penguins with unclear speeches

down with these tight-rope walking elephants

down with these snakes with a smarmy voice

down the masses will survive a little stunned, it

is true,

dream merchants torturers making people

starve

DOUNI KIIDAM

In this contradictory cruel, uncertain world you will be

born

and you will prepare for the other world, beyond

there are few who live bearing in mind the great

tomorrow

and more and more frequently there are those who take the other path

maybe life is beautiful but it is also short lived

each medal here on earth has a reverse side to it

death reminds us each time that she calls one of

ours and

at the cemetery the spade makes the distance grow

let everyone be prepared because for God

everyone will answer the roll call

happy, unhappy we will all pay in cash

from the man of over one hundred to the babe of

less than a year

because everything that lives dies every soul here on earth shall know pain

and death

poetical extract from the book of saints but pathetic

death is a great bridge that links the earth to

heaven

a hyphen between this world on earth and

beyond

but too contaminated by the vice of this worn out

world

we forget the creator and only dream of girls

those who lead us away from the path traced by

the Father

drawing us towards the sins of the flesh like honey

attracts flies son

travel in the direction that illuminates you

banish the one that humiliates you

your tomb is creeping up

the angel of death is watching you from the top

of his tower

in his sights any mortal awaits his turn

for him it’s routine son

the wheel of fortune turns son

Love

Look for love, love love Let’s look for love, love,

love

Sing love, love, loveLet’s sing love, love, love

Love buried by this world

In a tomb; and the bomb

This is my earth, earth, earth. It is my Mother’s

This is my earth, earth, earth. It is my Father’s

And our frontiers of misery, our bad luck

And our frontiers of misery, our salary

And our colours of misery, our bad luck

Look for love, love love Let’s look for love, love,

love

Sing love, love, loveLet’s sing love, love, love

In the innocent eyes of our children, In the frail hearts of our women,

In the bulging chest of our men, In the swollen chest

of our men

Look for love, love love Let’s look for love, love,

love

Sing love, love, loveLet’s sing love, love, love

Let’s look for love, always