The smell of sweat, African heat and morning glory
We could get drunk on wishing stars and mosquitoes
Dig into the mischievous soil only to drench thirst with wine
Darling, a serpent is slithering around your naked waist

Memories iron-marked by ambiguous laughs
Did the little drops of rain bring real joy, or was it fever hysteria?
The last bottle of ink ran dry, the papers faded in the sun
And then the whirlpool dragged us down in blistering depths with no breath

Can you at least remember the little girl wandering alone?
How when we came close, we saw the horror of her empty eyes?
Nausea took on worldly proportions, and has never left me since
Speak up, Lizard King! this earth is too gored up for you to disappear within it.

Every intake of breath was laden with slavery and misbalance
Dead grass of the Savannah bordered the drowning jungle
I tried so hard to get lost in between, but it was forbidden
Excruciating extremes enhanced my excesses to sin

And you my heart, for whom do you beat? What is sacred?
Describe to me what I am faithful to, what gods and ideals I bow before
Here there are only women left, wandering like stray dogs in the sun
And faith withers like flowers in the desert, for only the blind see in darkness.

Then the longing for home could intensify: but what do these drums carve
In the hearts of little children who may never see this coast again?
Maybe I’m too young to hold on to torrid spirits of mocha
But my heart has taken the shape of this world, I cannot cast it out

With every footstep laden with time I take, no matter how far we are
I will breathe in the dust and the sea salt; don’t forget me either
Too young and already too broken, I shall not dwell on memories but pass them on
Afraid of getting wet by rain swimming in the ocean, you shall drown

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AN: This is inspired by a French comic strip, Les Passagers du Vent by Bourgeon; it is definitely not a kids’ book or anything humorous or silly; it is a deeply moving story with wonderful pictures, very striking. Anyway, it is the images from those books that were in my mind when I wrote this, so I suppose I had to add that in the author’s note. I tried as much as I could, I think, to capture the emotions of the main character from that book because as I read it, I could feel them (heh, I’m like that…).