I Will Pronounce Your Name

By Leopold Sedar Senghor

I will pronounce your name, Naett, I will declaim you, Naett!

Naett, your name is mild like cinnamon, it is the fragrance in which the lemon grove sleeps

Naett, your name is the sugared clarity of blooming coffee trees

And it resembles the savannah, that blossoms forth under the masculine ardour of the midday sun

5 Name of dew, fresher than shadows of tamarind,

Fresher even than the short dusk, when the heat of the day is silenced,

Naett, that is the dry tornado, the hard clap of lightning

Naett, coin of gold, shining coal, you my night, my sun!…

I am you hero, and now I have become your sorcerer, in order to pronounce your names.

10 Princess of Elissa, banished from Futa on the fateful day.

http://afrilingual.wordpress.com/2011/04/02/i-will-pronounce-your-name-leopold-sedar-senghor/

 

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