The Continent That Exists No More byAmadou Elimane Kane

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was walking through distant ages

When I arrived in a continent

Which perhaps had not existed

Save to a distorted gaze

I was walking in a continent

So far in the past

That alienated eyes

Could see it no more

And that the mercantilists had

Utterly caricatured

I walked in a continent

Where every house

Communicated with the cliffs

The trees

And the sacred streams

I walked in a remote continent

Whose people banished the third part of things

And their looks saw nothing

But the words of love

The words of solidarity

The people of this continent

Lived only for poetic dreams

Only for calm looks

For looks filled with light

I was walking in a continent

Where the women were queens

Where people could still conjugate their verbs

Breathe

Inspire

Love one another

And live

Without imperfection

Without future

And without words found

Only in truncated dictionaries

I was walking in a continent

Where everyone offered their riches

Their ears

Their looks

Their smiles

I was walking in a continent

Whose people were not

Slaves of money

They absorbed the beauties of nature

In the temples of their dreams

Washed free of all lying dust