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Until his tragic death in an air crash, David Diop (1927-1960) was regarded as one of the most talented and promising of the younger generation of poets associated with the cultural movement known as Negritude. This movement was devoted to defining and expressing the special, distinctive cultural characteristics of black people and then to asserting the worth of those characteristics. Much of Diop's poetry reflects his strong anti-colonial stance. Africa David Diop Africa my Africa Africa of the bold warriors roaming ancestral plains Africa whose praise my grandmother sings Beside her distant river Never have I known you But my glance is filled with your blood Your fine black blood scattered over the fields Blood of your sweat Sweat of your toil Toil of your enslavement Enslavement of your children Africa tell me Africa Can this be you this back that bends To cringe beneath the burden of humility This trembling red-striped back That says yes to the lash along the noonday path I heard a voice gravely reply O my impetuous son that robust tree That young tree standing there Proudly alone among the white and faded flowers That is Africa your Africa growing again Growing again patiently stubbornly Your Africa whose fruits little by little Take on the biting taste of liberty. Translated from the French by Norman R Shapiro
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