| de "BASSE ENFANCE" | from "EARLY CHILDHOOD" | ||||
| Vénus Khoury-Ghata | trans. Marilyn Hacker | ||||
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Inutile de ressemeler nos livres nos mains grandiront en sabots et nos pieds en ailes de toucan Nous boitions à force de marcher sous les lignes louchions pour avoir grimacé face à l'alphabet La nature n'aime pas les enfants sans laisse et sans coeur qui comptent les étoiles les doigts nus Les murs que nous côtoyions s'esclaffaient de rire et tenaient de longs conciliabules les volets que nous sollicitions Pourtant un platane vieux de plusieurs lunes expliquait que ce qui brillait dans le ciel était notre âme
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No use re-soling our books our hands will grow into clogs and our feet into toucan wings We limped from always walking under the lines squinted from making faces at the alphabet Nature isn't fond of unleashed heartless children who count stars on their bare fingers We ran alongside walls which burst out laughing and had long chats with the shutters we'd importuned Still, a plane tree several moons old explained that what shone in the sky were our scattered
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Copyright © Vénus Khoury-Ghata 2001; Trans. copyright © Oberlin College 2001 - publ. Oberlin College Press, Oberlin, Ohio, USA
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