“We are the eternally forgotten.”

                                                    Mia Couto

dearest ghosts

of ancient slaves

who are long forgotten

by our memory

dear ones

ghosts from the congo

that

three times

saw the horror

with your own eyes

dearest ghosts from biafra

and ethiopia

dearest ghosts

from the apartheid

dearest ghosts from angola

and mozambique

dearest ghosts from libya

and somalia

dearest ghosts

floating in the mediterranean

until you’re dead for good

you have

to understand:

we’re busy

ocupados occupés beschäftigt

and

we admit

emotionally exhausted

from welcoming these blond-haired

blue-eyed children

as you must know

history ended

(for you)

Translated by G. Holleran

on the uselessness of flags or maybe not

i dreamed with this flag

i fought

by this flag

i helped to settle

this flag

on top of the expectant mountains

bathed

in blood

why

this flag

nothing tells me today

when

i see it defiled

by whom

always saw it

like a simple and useless

piece of cloth

to wrap the coins

accumulated along the journey?

i need to find out

new uses

for this flag

and keep fighting for it

Translated by the author

another poem about rewriting

to rewrite

in the sense of reviewing

established truths

implies losing

all respect

for them

scour

their insides

methodically separate them

expose them

to the opporbrium of crowds

until

no word

about words

is left

Translated by the author