"Three daybreaks Part III, lines 1-10 (of III parts)"
All the stars are melted together in the crucible of time, then cooled in the sea and turned into a many-faceted
stone-block. A dying lapidist, the Night, setting to work with all her heart and all her grief to see her mills crumbling,
crumbling, like ashes in the wind, cuts with what living care the prism.
-Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo
Madagascar
"Labane, Lines 1-7"
Our lost virginities will never be regained. Never more will be chosen from princely beds.
The Royal Eagle, with his pearly beak Digs into the slain hearts
Ruptures the life roots Abandons the remains
-Annette M'Baye d'Erneville
Senegal
"The Stars Have Departed"
The stars have departed The sky in a monocle Surveys the world under The stars have departed And I- Where am
I? ? Stretch, stretch O antennae, To clutch at this hour, Fulfilling each movement in a Broken monody.
-Christopher Okigbo
Nigeria
"The Fear of Death"
O death, thy fear I fear, But I fear thee not. I wait not for thy appointed day, For in it you instill thy fright And
trouble the minds and thoughts Of those who fall to thy illusion.
Admonish thy angel not to come, For I shall
acquaint myself On how to die even daily, Like travelers of the far country, I too shall someday know the route, From
this world to the one beyond, To transit at will over and again, Loosing all fear that may lie.
-Oliver Mabamara
Nigeria
"True Denials"
To reduce our warmest thoughts to ashes To douse with dishonesty these fires that burn To sweep us underneath the
carpets To think tomorrow , never never yesterday because it brings us not free me or free you To think we are ended Is
as easy as not.
-DOGHUDJE DOGHUDJE
Nigeria
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