Léon-Gontran Damas

Léon-Gontran Damas is considered one of the three leaders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature. Influenced by the poets of the Harlem Renaissance, the aim of the Négritude poets was to debunk the myth of European cultural superiority. In 1937, Damas lit the Francophone world on fire when he published Pigments, a collection of poems that became a rallying cry for the colonized and oppressed. The following poems are excerpted from Graffiti, a collection published in 1952, which continues Damas' discussion of the reprecussions of colonization on a more intimate level.

Published on 07/16/2004

        really in spite I think
        that in the arms of another
        you sleep
        then
        my head in my burning hands
        then my heart my heart
        my poor sick heart

        really in spite I think
        that in the arms of another
        you sleep
        then
        my head in my burning hands
        then my heart my heart
        my poor sick heart
        only then do I realize
        the horror
        the true horror
        the ugliness
        all the ugliness
        of a life foreign and mine

        blue walls
        bare walls
        white walls in a gray hotel
        bare walls in a gray hotel
        that my nausea decorates with an irritating
        tick tock

        what does it matter
        since
        in spite of myself really in spite of myself I
        think that in the arms of another
        you sleep

        as from one bank to another
        happy and calm
        the water sleeps

        QUAND MALGRE MOI

        bien malgré je pense
        qu'au bras d'un autre
        tu dors
        alors
        ma tête entre mes mains brûlantes
        alors mon cœur mon cœur
        mon pauvre cœur malade
        alors seulement je réalise
        l’horreur
        la pleine horreur
        la laideur
        toute la laideur
        d’une vie étrange et mienne

        murs bleus
        murs nus
        murs blancs d’hôtel gris
        murs nus d’hôtel gris
        qu’emplit ‘ecœurement d’un éreintant
        tic tac

        qu’importe
        puisque
        malgré moi bien malgré moi je
        pense qu’aux bras d’un autre
        tu dors

        comme d’un rive à l’autre
        heureuse et calme
        l’eau dort

        --Translated by Kirsten Halling

Copyright © Léon-Gontran Damas, 2004. All Rights Reserved.