Skip to content

Scottish Poetry Library

Register/Sign in
Shopping Bag Shopping Bag
Bringing people and poems together
  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Re-Opening FAQ
  • Poetry
    • Poems
    • Poets
    • Our National Poet
    • Podcasts
    • Best Scottish Poems
    • Poetry and Mindfulness
    • Champions 2020
    • Posters
    • Publishers
  • Library
    • Become a borrower
    • Catalogue
    • Collections
    • Ask a librarian
    • Copyright enquiries
  • Learning
    • National Poetry Day 2019
    • National Poetry Day archive
    • SQA set texts
    • Learning resources
    • New to poetry?
    • Advice for poets
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Exhibitions
    • Venue hire
    • List an event
  • Shop
    • Scotland’s Makar
    • Poetry Pamphlet Cards
    • Pocket Poets
    • Scottish Poetry
    • Help
  • About us
    • Our story
    • Our people
    • Our projects
    • Jobs
    • Our building
    • FAQs
    • Find us
  • Support us
    • Become a Friend
    • Donate
    • Easy Fundraising
  • Blog
Shopping BagShopping Bag
Ask a librarian
  • Home
  • >
  • Poetry
  • >
  • Marie-Léontine Tsibinda
  • >
  • The Village
Donate Donate icon Ask a Librarian Ask a Librarian icon

The Village

Marie-Léontine Tsibinda

Can you ever forget the village?
Can you ever forget its shore
from where the splashing of water rises in evening?

Can you ever forget its springs?
Can you ever forget its banana leaves
that rustle in the darkness?
Listen to the song that unfolds:
it is a chorus of children in the pirogue
that glides on the river

Can you feel the air of the day vibrate
and can you feel the rich soil tremble
when the fire of a train pushes through the silence of the
mountains?

Look at the sun falling asleep
like him unfold your mat and sleep
for tomorrow is another day.


Marie-Léontine Tsibinda

from A Rain of Words: A Bilingual Anthology of Women’s Poetry in Francophile Africa, edited by Irène Assiba d’Almeida (Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2009)

translated by Janis A. Mayes

Reproduced by kind permission of the translator and publisher.

Tags:

African poetry Congo nostalgia villages

About this poem

This poem, representing Congo, is part of The Written World – our collaboration with BBC radio to broadcast a poem from every single nation competing in London 2012.

Share this
Facebook
Twitter
Email

Learn more

Marie-Léontine Tsibinda

Marie-Léontine Tsibinda was born in Girard. She attended the University of Brazzaville, gaining a Masters in English, and later worked as a librarian at the American Cultural Centre. In 1978 she published her first book of poetry. Between 1979...
More about Marie-Léontine Tsibinda

Join

Become a Borrower or support our work by becoming a Friend of SPL.
Join us

Podcasts

Our audio programme of poets, poems and news for you to listen to.
Listen Now
  • Newsletter signup
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crichton's Close, Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2021.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
City of Edinburgh logo Green Arts Initiative logo Creative Scotland logo
By leaves we live

The Scottish Poetry Library is staffed weekdays from 10am – 2pm and is providing a limited service including postal loans and Click & Collect. For details, click COVID-19 in the menu bar above. Dismiss