Arusha's Page

MER MEDITERRANNEE

mer méditérrannée, oh ma mère méditérannée, oui ma mort méditérrannée, oh cette mort méditérrannée…
Mediterranean sea, o my Mediterranean mother, yes, my Mediterranean death, this Mediterranean death…
(IN FRENCH, MER= SEA, MERE= MOTHER, MORT=DEATH)
1) mer méditérrannée, toi si belle, toi si calme,
au bleu azur, azur et jade;
caveau liquide, tombe outre-mer et cobalt
témoin d’autant de noyades
anonymes!
tant de cris étouffés dans tes vagues, de bateaux engouffrés dans tes naufrages…
ces centaines d’âmes perdues oubliées parmi tes mirages…

Mediterranean sea, you who are so beautiful and calm, blue like the sky, blue and green…
like a liquid tomb dark and rich blue,
and witness to so many drownings
(anonymous!)
so many cries stifled in your waves, so many boats swallowed in your shipwrecks…
hundreds upon hundreds of souls lost and forgotten amongst your chimeras...

mer méditérranée, oh ma mère méditérannée, oui ma mort méditérrannée, oh cette mort méditérrannée…

2) de Lampedusa à Gibraltar, les corps que tu régurgites au bord des plages,
viennent troubler le soleil doré des vacanciers,
viennent hanter le rêve des passants, le sommeil tremblotant des écoliers,
cette longue souffrance, le soleil voile, noyé des sans-papiers…
anonymes!

from Lampedusa to Gibraltar, the bodies you throw up on the beach disturb the holiday makers’ golden sunshine, and haunt the dreams of passers-by, the trembling sleep of schoolchildren,
this long heavy suffering: the hidden drowning sun of illegal migrants…
anonymous!

3) ni d’ici ni d’là-bas, sans papiers tu n’es pas, sans papiers c’est sans droit sans toit,
alors que toi et moi traversons les oceans, sans papiers
moi et toi nous y mourrons dedans…
anonymes!
ni d’ici ni d’là-bas, victimes noyées des lois, légiférées dans les riches couloirs politiques…
victimes des manipulations médiatiques, des crédulités, des peurs publiques,
neither from here nor there- when you’re an illegal migrant you do not exist;

when you’re an illegal migrant, you have no rights, no roof over your head…
but whereas you and me can travel across oceans, without the right papers, me and you just die in them…
anonymously!
neither from here nor there, these drowned victims of laws tabled in politics’ plush corridors…
drowned victims of media games, of public credulities, and public fears…

4) oh mer méditérrannée…
oh ma mère, laissée à attendre, rêver, espérer…
un petit retour, une petite parcelle de moi, de ma mort méditérrannée…
anonyme!
oh my Mediterranean sea…
oh my mother, left to wait, to dream, to hope…
…for something back, a tiny part of me, of my Mediterranean death…
anonymous!

5) déjà mon coeur me brule, mes paupières se ferment, je ne vois que le bleu autour…
les derniers larmes des voyageurs, les derniers cris, les derniers pleurs…oh ma mère
un silence azur, une infinie douleur de cette mort, cette mort méditérrannée…

already my heart begins to burn, my eyelids are closing, I can only see blue around me…
can only hear the travelers’ last tears, the final cries, the final wails…oh mother!
a blue silence, an infinite pain… this death, this Mediterranean death…

******************************************************************

NAGUKUNDA

Quando viene el fin de la noche
Yo sé que no piensas en mi,
Quando viene la luz del dia
Yo sé que me ha olvidado,
Y al primer caer de la luna
Yo sé que no piensas en mi,
Quando llega el cielo amarillo
Yo sé que me ha olvidado
Pero
Yo te quiero.....
El viento que surge del mar
Me canta suenas de sirenas,
De tierras y lagos azules
De estrellas bailando por la noche,
Mas lindo que todo eso
Es lo que siento por ti...
Te quiero
Te quiero con toda mi alma, por toda mi vida,
Te quiero con toda mi alma, por toda mi vida...

When night comes to an end, I know I still love you; when daylight breaks, I know that you have forgotten me; and when the moon falls over the horizon for the first time, I know I still love you, when the golden sky of dawn arrives, I know that you have forgotten me...but I still love you.
The wind which rises from the sea sings of the dreams of mermaids, of blue-tinged lands and lakes, of stars dancing through the night- but still more beautiful than of all of that is what I feel for you...I still love you.
I love you with all my soul, I will always love you...

************************************************************************

HOME

In far away and distant places, i feel i don’t belong.
Always changing destinations, i go on and on.
And when my heart finds a sweet song...i’ll stay a little while.
Coz’ everywhere my heart sings, i know is home.
Everywhere my heart sings, i know is home.
Waking up to new horizons, day after passing day,
Winter dances into summer, into spring in May.
And when my heart finds a sweet song...i’ll stay a little while.
Coz’ everywhere my heart sings, i know is home.
Everywhere my heart sings, i know is home.

But these are days of lonely winter,
I’d like to find a place, a kind of shelter.
A place to call my own,
A time for promises old and grown,
A place to become my own...destiny.
Coz’ every song needs another voice to sing along
And every beat needs a melody to make it complete...
Yes every beat needs a melody to make it complete.
Another voice to sing along, how i yearn for another voice to sing along-
Another voice to sing along...

And then one day i saw you:
I know you saw me too.
Time stopped dancing and flowing,
I know you felt it too.
Coz everywhere your heart sings is now my home...
And everywhere your heart sings is now my home...