IN YOUR PRESENCE

In your presence I have rediscovered my name
My name that was hidden so long under the pain of separation
I have rediscovered the eyes no longer veiled with fever
And your laugther like a flame piercing the shadows
Has revealed Africa to me beyond the snows of yesterday
Ten years my love
With days of illusion and abandoned ideas
And sleep restless with alcohol
Ten years of suffering poured on me from the world's breath
Suffering that burdens today with the taste of tommorow
And turns love into a boundless river
In your presence I have rediscovered the memory of my blood
And the necklaces of laugther hung round our days
Days sparkling with ever new joys.

—David Mandessi Diop (About the poet)