Long Amis Poems

La Charte des Droits de l’Homme pour les Aborigènes - Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal's Aboriginal Charter of Rights by T. Wignesan


Nous avons besoin de l’espoir, pas de racisme,
La fraternité, pas d’ostracisme
Du progrès pour les Noirs,...

Read More

Autumn Leaves/Les feuilles mortes de Jacques PREVERT (1900-77) 
Translated by T. Wignesan 

(Note: As far as I can make out, this poem is at the heart of all versions of « The Autumn Leaves "...

Read More

Translation of Eric Mottram’s KRIM: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY TO SEPTEMBER 1989 - II by T. Wignesan

( This poem is from the collection, ESTUARIES: Poems 1989-91. Twickenham: Solaris, 1992, 62p. Pub. by Yasmin and Peterjon Skelt. Back...

Read More

"Sliders"

500 clicks down, was code phrase for battle ships gone all depth charge. The deeper you go down that black-holed sink, the more you understand in your oxygen deprived brain, that there is a lesson...

Read More

La Charte des Droits de l’Homme pour les Aborigènes - Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal's Aboriginal Charter of Rights by T. Wignesan

Nous avons besoin de l’espoir, pas de racisme,
La fraternité, pas d’ostracisme
Du progrès pour les Noirs,...

Read More

You’ll never be an Olympic champion, Cecile,
After your accident on the ice,
Just walk, only,
There are so many beautiful things to do,
While walking, only, doubly,
Walking makes happy, calms the heart,
Walking inspires the brain, frees it,
You’ll never...

Read More

La conciencia no aguanto el remordimiento
el sufrimiento va consumiéndome Lento
pero se bien que yo me Lo eh ganado
eh pecado y por ti seré castigada 
puedo mentirle a Los demás pero a ti no dios 
se...

Read More

I have no friends left, 
In this town,
Will you be my friend?
You, the little Prince
Living On the planet B 612?

Will you be my friend?
The robin
Gracefully singing
When I Walk?

I have no friend,
Will you be my friend?
You,...

Read More

Quand le jour se levera, la lumiere eclaira
la bonte divine nous reviendra et l'amour s'eclatera dans nous
voila les chemins menant de partout
les passagers et les amis de la mort sont la
les gardiens de la volonte...

Read More

I write only for you,
Not for the king, so smart,
Not for Paris,
Not for the mirrors of the sky,
I only write for you.

I do not write for the abbot
Who weeps before God,
I don’t write for the...

Read More

Translation of " Bury Me in a Free Land " by Frances E. W. Harper
(Homage to Frances Ellen Watkins HARPER, the First Black Lady of America, 1825 - 1911, Orphan, Poet, Novelist, Civil Rights Activist,...

Read More

(after Alphonse de Lamartine)

Thus, ever driven onward to new shores, borne constantly away, 
Can we never, in the Ocean of the Ages, drop anchor for a day? 

Oh, this beautiful lake! The year has hardly...

Read More

A man without a car is a poor fellow,
It’s like a cowboy without a horse, a lonely soul,
He doesn’t know what to do or who to visit in the ranches,
He walks alone in Los Angeles...

Read More

Since the bloody Battle of Hastings
When 'Arold got killed by French Bill
We've seen an endless invasion of French
And I've just about had my fill

Don't we have enough words of our own
In this wonderful language of...

Read More

I write the sadness of the Brazilian forests, 
About modern centuries and glass cities,
Tattooed Indians who are murdered too,
For a handle of gold or green diamond,

I write the greatness of Brazilian forests
Roots that descend to...

Read More

je n'ai pas choisi mon nom
ma couleur ou ma religion 
je n'ai pas choisi le liban
ni d'etre arriver dans ce temps
cependant mes amis 
je vais choisr ma vie
il ne me reste plus beaucoup de temps
profitons...

Read More

Only birds tell the truth,
They hear our little fears
And lay them in their nests,
They know when we cry
And tell all their friends, in heaven,

Only birds tell the truth,
Better than the great poets, 
Better than the...

Read More

The sky is blue, clear, jovial and ethereal
To welcome with open heart spring which is
So beautiful, fresh, colorful, and at ease
Oh! It’s a reborn again time which is real.

Oh! Friends, it's the most wonderful season
Green...

Read More

Je m’adresse au mystère du temps,

Es-tu mon ennemi ou mon meilleur ami? Je n’ai jamais réalisé avant ce moment que les enfants n’ont pas de conflit avec toi.  On n’entend jamais un enfant se...

Read More

Along the glass of a lazy stroll, 
The jar popped open the doctor, 
Or so I thought, ‘cos attachment, 
Honour and protection was proctor. 

Amis of gel, congruence and ear, 
No disk did move my...

Read More

Who can reassure me?
That is the question, 
Maybe the weasel, 
Maybe the cherry tree?

Such is the question,
Who can reassure me?
Maybe Josephine?
Maybe Marion? Or July,

Who can reassure me?
Maybe the poet friends,
Who knows anything about it?
The rhyme...

Read More

Whether it's a shellcreeper or it's a freezie,
fret not, mes amis! you have Mario and Luigi,
"mama mia!","Let's go!" when you hear them say,
those plumbers in red & green are off to save the day!

Luigi is...

Read More

ACHTUNG, MES AMIS

The islands resolutely isolated from the shore
had atmosphere : they were redolent of an insolence
which betokened ‘Do come and get me, if you damn well dare.’
Its minor mountains, be amazed, look, of an...

Read More

I’m in downtown Pittsburgh
at 3:45.	
This boy has pushed this
girl into a
wall. His hood
has fallen heavily over his face
and she is jerking
her head to see if anyone is 
watching.
She soon spots mon amis et moi.
He is...

Read More

The nature of the leaves
                 praising thee
On this fine Sunday morn’
        ...

Read More