"O Eritrea I'd fill the horn"
By Josué Guébo
O Eritrea I'd fill the horn
New signs to banish those spells that gore fate
I'd punch the horn full of fraternal notes
a harmony to deplete the archaic songs
They are always of discord
powdery rhythmics in which verse and chorus
toss life into the pasture
into the ground into the sand
Only the sea can erase our boot prints in the clay
or destroy the sandcastle
Already determined by blood
the earth has eaten its children
The sea does not tell me
what is has done
stretching its tongue
just a few lengths from Lampedusa
Copyright Credit: Josué Guébo, “O Eritrea I’d fill the horn” from Think of Lampedusa. Copyright © 2017 by Josué Guébo. Reprinted by permission of University of Nebraska Press.
Source: Think of Lampedusa (University of Nebraska Press, 2017)