I Give You Thanks My God by Bernard Dadie

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I give you thanks my God for having created me back

For having made of me 

The total of all sorrows,

and set upon my head 

the World.

1 wear the livery of the Centaur

And I carry the World since the first morning

White is a colour improvised for an occasion

Black, the colour of all days 

And I carry the World since the first night.

I am happy

with the shape of my head

fashioned to carry the World,

satisfied with the shape of my nose, 

Which should breathe all the air of the World,

happy

with the form of my legs

prepared to run through all the stages of the World

I give you thanks my God, for having created me black

for having made of me

the total of all sorrows

Thirty-six swords have pierced my heart. 

Thirty-six brands have burned my body,

And my blood on all the calvaries has reddened snow,

And my blood from all the east has reddened nature,

And yet I am

Happy to carry the World,

Content with my short arms,

with my long legs, with the thickness of my lipe

I give you thanks my God, for having created me black,

White is a colour for an occasion, 

Black the colour of all days

And I carry the World since the moming of time. 

And my laughter in the night brought forth day over the World.

I give you thanks my God for having created me black.