Poem to Assala Assale Luc
Translated from French by Grace Hetherington
you beat down on my head
like tropical rain
no! no –
like a GIANT CLUB
and
I
staggered
on my
feet
I
HEAVYWEIGHT
of a thousand battles
I
the titan
who defies
the storm
and
I
staggered
on my feet
Oh!
MAGISTRATE
HOW CRUEL YOU ARE!
a curse upon you
Despair
you visited me during that day
and the black night, without stars without moonbeams
without fireflies without future
you could cut it with a machete
like the night when my feet
lost their way behind
the village hut
I, who surrendered there beneath the cocoa trees
where the elephant rots
oh God in heaven
inky
darkness
beat down on me
and you
oh earth
yes you oh earth
you had
stopped
turning
Oh!
MAGISTRATE
HOW CRUEL YOU ARE!
a curse upon you
your voice rang out
like
DYNAMITE
splintering stones
in a hollow
and
my
legs
were
transformed
into
cotton
WHEN YOU GAVE VOICE TO
YOUR WORLD-ENDING WORDS
and the earth
had stopped
turning
Oh!
MAGISTRATE
HOW CRUEL YOU ARE!
a curse
upon you
~ Enoh Meyomesse
Enoh Meyomesse is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Cameroon, on charges that are widely believed to be politically motivated. Meyomesse is President of the Cameroonian Writers’ Association, and has published 15 books, including poetry and essays of history and culture. He tried to stand for President in Cameroon in 2011, but was barred by the authorities. He is in ill-health, and conditions in Kondengui Prison, where he is being held, are appalling, but he has repeatedly been denied appeal hearings on his case. PEN International, the worldwide writers’ organisation, is campaigning for Enoh Meyomesse’s release and raising awareness of his case to mark the global Day of the Imprisoned Writer, which was on 15 November.
Grace Hetherington graduated from King’s College London in the summer of 2013 with a degree in French and English Literature. She spent six months as an intern English PEN, the founding centre of the international association of writers.
Editor’s note: This poem comes from ‘Jail Verse: Poems from Kondengui Prison’, written by Enoh Meyomesse in prison and translated and promoted by English PEN. You can download the full collection for free here. English PEN is petitioning for an appeal hearing for Enoh Meyomesse to go ahead on 20 November.