We Never Leave The Country

We make arrangements, we leave

Then we say goodbye

But we never leave the country

Parents, allies and friends

We have tears in our eyes

And we pray to the Great God

For those who stay

For even those we despise

We have a heavy heart

Our tongues are weighed down by words

We feel weak and confused

We feel berserk and absurd

We feel the discomfort

We are not at all comfortable

We pray, we dream and we hope

Since our sisters and brothers

Remained behind

This is painful! This hurts!

We think about the contents of the cabinets

We cherish the treasure of our memories

We never leave the country

We never leave Haiti

We never leave Algeria

We never leave Paris

We never leave Tunisia

We never leave Africa

We never leave the Americas

We never leave the images

We never leave the landscape

We never leave the villages

Even through the ages

We are dust

And we never leave Mother Earth

We became the country

Our bodies went, left, fled

And returned in the evening

What remains is the spirit

What remains is the soul

In the midst of the din

We brood, ponder and we’re emotional

We no longer feel the heat of the sun

We have no sleep, we cannot dream

And we become irrational

We never leave the country

Since we are fond of our friends

Our allies, our family members

And the natural beauty of the small towns.

P.S. Translation of ‘ On Ne Laisse Jamais Le Pays’ par Hébert Logerie.

Copyright © June 2021, Hébert Logerie, All rights reserved

Hébert Logerie is the author of several collections of poems.