Bambou [English translation]

Bamboo

in your silences I can make out

Bamboo

African girls from Abyssinia

Bamboo

in your mutism, your delirium

Bamboo

spans from Angola to Zaire

Bamboo travels through her mind

she stands next to me and yet already left me

All of Bamboo's silences

scream inside my head and drive me mad

Bamboo

in you vagrant stare I can make out1

Bamboo

fevers with tropical moistness

Bamboo

as your pupils dilate

Bamboo

murky pond water gets reflected in them

The rainy season is over

Bamboo is done crying

she was quick to console herself

All of Bamboo's silences

scream inside my head and drive me mad

You are desert, Bamboo

and jungle, Bamboo

a bamboo forest

and a sunstroke2

Bamboo

in your silences I can make out

Bamboo

African grils from Abyssinia

Bamboo

in your concussions

Bamboo

I see Equatorial Africa

You are desert, Bamboo

and jungle, Bamboo

a bamboo forest

and a sunstroke

1. "se dessiner" and "se dévoiler" basically mean "can be glimpsed" or "can be made out" as I translated it2. lit. "a bamboo stroke". another of Mr. Chamfort's little puns :)