Aimé Césaire - Epacts

From Lyric and Dramatic Poetry, 1946-82 by Aimé Fernand David Césaire (1913 – 2008)

epacts 


The hill in a soft gesture is dusted 
The mangrove swamps are bitter 
Immediately bogged down; 
I heard the clacking 
Of the beaks and standing more silently than before 
Surrounded by the cacophony of the mandibles. 
And the spittle of remorse of leeches and roots 
Settled and complicit by our collusion 
Soon one slurs the dragons; and in time 
One or two arising from the muck and mire 
Shaking wings and showering all about and in time 
As the departing barks and boats retire 
From the shore in a monsoon dream 
If I myself am blind, I walk in a suffocating childhood 
Which is made clear to those who calculate the differences in lunar days 
For I always refused to agree with a lagoonal calendar