Out of their torments men carved a flower
which they perched on the high plateaus of their faces
hunger makes a canopy for them
an image dissolves in their last tear
they drank foam rhythmed monsters
to the point of ferocious horror
In those days
there was an
unforgettable
metamorphosis
on their hooves the horses were rearing a bit of dream
fat fiery clouds filled out like mushrooms
over all the public squares
there was a terrific pestilence
on the sidewalks the smaller streetlamps were rotating their lighthouse heads
as for the anophelic future it was hissing in the gardens a scorching vapor
In those days
the word shower
and the word topsoil
the word dawn
and the word shavings
conspired for the first time
Aimé Césaire, “New Year” from The Collected Poetry of Aimé Césaire. English Translation Copyright © 1983 by Clayton Eshleman. Reprinted by permission of the translator.
Source: The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century Poetry (Yale University Press, 2008)