DAOUDA NDIAYE

Four Poems

Translated from the Wolof by the author

Ci talib Bamakook jëm Arundu

Yoon waa  ngi nangu ndawug tool yi  
Boo wàccee tali bi xale yu texet 
a ngiy dóor dàqeek jànt bi
ca keppaar ga ay beykat  yu jàq
a ngi waxaale seen àdduna si nu wanteer
Lu fa suuf si leen meňň dese ?
Xanaa ay doom yu wex ci sàqam 
sàq mi nu sëqatoo taxaw
di meňňaat ak jiwu cosaan
Boo wàcce yoonu Bamako jëm Arundu
Suuf su xonq saa ngi  rogaaat déretam
jëme ko ci dëkki Afrig yu ŋiis yi       
jigeen ňaak  góor ňa donte dañu tëdd
ňa nga desak seen ngor ci yoon wu sore wii

On the road from Bamako to Aroundou

The road deflowers nubile fields
Beneath unconcerned children
Playing hide and seek with the sun
In the shade of troubled peasants
haggling over the price of their sold off futures
What remains to Mother Earth ?
Bitter fruit in her attic
this devastated attic, still standing,
budding with the seeds of origins
Down the path from Bamako to Aroundou
red earth irrigates its blood
these anemic African villages 
where women and men even men 
remain standing on this long road

 Guy gi

Yow jambaar ji ub làmb yi
Xam naa fu sa kàttan tege
Ci màndiŋ meek àll bi
bu njëgg yiy romb
nga talal loxo asamaan
yenu lekket gu bënn
Guy  yow miy ñaan jant bi
di saf weer wuy sàmm
Xanaa doo bàyyi dëkk sama
di saay ciy daay ?
Guy gi ci jë bu dëll bi
Ku la ñemee féete kow
ci song merum ngëlén li ?

The baobab

You are the champion of the arena
I know where you hold your reins
In the steppe and savannah
As caravans pass by
Your arms outstretched to heaven
carry a perforated gourd
Baobab imploring the sun
Intimate of the moon
Will you let my village
Perish in bushfires ?
Bulging baobab trunk
who dares eclipse you
to confront the fury of the storm ?

Wutkati  wurus

Dóor i kuur ci suuf su sell
Suufus Afrig si nu war ca njalbéen
Suuf si nu meňň ëmb wurus
i janax a ngi lëňbati say butit
di noyyi xet gu bon gi ci ban bi
Ci sa peggi dex y
lejum yu nëtëx a nga fay meňň
làq ci seen biir xal yu yànj
Dëkk baa ngi lakk butiti njurukaayam
Yoole ko yàllay wurus ji
di soppi wurus jënde koy bàmmeel
Dóor i kuur ci suuf su sell
Suufus Afrig si nu war ca njalbéen
Xuri wurus yaa ngi nuy nëbb jant bi

Gold miners

Pestles pounding on the sacred land
African land swindled since dawn
Mother earth  stomach gorged of gold
Mice rummage through your entrails 
Inhaling the fetid stench of mud
On the banks of your rivers
Grow green vegetables
Wrapped in smoldering  coals
The village burns its  embryos
To offer to the god of gold
purifying gold for sepulchers
Pestles pounding on the sacred land
African land swindled since dawn
The gold mines hide the day

Xoolub gone

Maa ngi gis ci liy weex sa bët
Maraxum nataalu xarnu bi
Gone gi ci jalu mbalit bi
Gone gi ci gént yu neex yi
Dama laa bëgg sampal dàllu xeer
Ci xelu mag miy naax
Ngir ñu mana yéemu ci meloy
Xon wi ne faax ci gàncax gi
Ci sa peru bët maa ngi lay séen
Ngay ku wéet fañu la ne ràpp tëj 
Ak i mbugal yu tar yi la nit sëf

A Child’s Gaze

I see the whites of your eyes
The chiaroscuro of a century’s painting
Child of the garbage dump
Child of sweet dreams
I'd like to erect a stele
In the minds of people experiencing dementia
To contemplate with you the colors
Of the rainbow on the greenery
In the apple of your eye
I catch a glimpse of you walled in
Facing a deliberately tragic destiny

Daouda Ndiaye was born in Medina, in the heart of Dakar, capital city of Senegal (West Africa). Jurist, he is also doctor of Educational Science – Université Paris 8 Vincennes St-Denis. Poet in the wolof language, his mother tongue, he translates his poems into French, English, and Spanish. His published works include : Keppaarug Guy Gi / Under the Baobab Tree. Poems in Wolof (Paris : L’Harmattan 1999), and Gàddaay Gi/ The Exile. Poems in Wolof (Paris : L’Harmattan, 2003).  Wolof poems, Saawo yi / The sillons of the Mind, published in 2010 ; Baatu garab, The voice of a tree in 2024. Daouda Ndiaye also translates into wolof poetry from the Black diaspora. He is currently working on The Return of the Homing Pigeon, an anthology of selected poems by African American and Caribbean writers and their translations in Wolof.