Indepa by Ketty Nivyabandi (English Translation)

Indepa

This time
They do not dance
Feet kneaded
In clay
Palms shiny with dung,
In innocence,
And the scent of eucalyptus
Raised high
Over a field of a thousand and one promises
This time
They do not sing
Their mosaic noses
Drunk on pride
And Independence...
The word pregnant with sensual, Mysterious tones
And endless delights

This time
Their eyes do not shine
Lit up by the gold of the unknown
Their children will not run in the thousands, Shirts ballooned with Hope
And youthful glory
To the place where great men live
To the ridge where all dreams are hailed Where libations offer
Pure songs

This time
They do not cry
Their tears dry with indifference Feet encrusted with the same fleas As their grandfathers
They keep their eyes
Frozen
On the clayey land
And take care mostly
Not to lift their eyes
For fear of burning them
In the heat of a dreamless sky

On this day of pompous luxuries And insolence
They continue
To make love to their tender
And faithful earth
Bringing her clean water From the bed of fleeing rivers And they will only plant Their most precious seed
In her, the earth
Like yesterday
Tomorrow
And fifty years ago

The wind will blow this morning Through hollow valleys
Over the mountain tops
And in the ears of the prophets
And the dream robbers will whisper That it has been A great day
A great, great day
They speak at a slightly higher pitch Slightly more nervously than normal They will repeat again and again From one dream robber to another That Yes, this is a great day
A great, great day
The tone just a little higher,
A little more nervous than normal.

Only the wise and the simple minded Will hear the old martyrs’ lamentations In the wind’s frantic spiral
The fear of a dreamless sky
Fleas infesting
The farmers cracked heels And the old earth’s lullabies For slumbering children
In the stars deep quiet.

While down here
In the city
We dance
Cha cha cha ...
And we say indepa what? indepa me
indepa you, Ha ha ha!
Cha cha cha ...

And the next day
The waves of the lake
Will tell the hills
And the children of the stars
Quite curious things: That on that night,
Night of Independence,
The wind’s breath
Strangely violent
Woke the children of the earth And willed the dream robbers to run,
run,
run
Like crazy
In the privacy of their jungles Having glimpsed
In the shadow of the night,
The calm, white light
Of two big eyes
Of an old prince
Set
On the silence on their foreheads

Ketty Nivyabandi

Ketty Nivyabandi, born in 1978 is a Burundian poet and essayist. Her poetry, written mostly in French and English has appeared online and in several anthologies. Ketty Nivyabandi is popularly known for her significant role in political activism in Burundi when in 2015 the country’s president sparked unrest by illegally bidding for a third term in office.