Birago Diop’s Vanity Essay

Birago Diop He was born in 1906 at Dakar, Senegal. He was educated in Senegal and in France where in qualifed in veterinary surgeon. VANITY is one of his many poems he used in expressing the presence of the ancestor.THE POEMVANITYIf we tell, gently, gentlyAll that we shall one daylight have to tell,Who then will hear our voices without jest,Sad complaining voices of beggarsWho thence will hear them without laughter?If we almost of our tormentsEver increasing from the scoop up of thingsWhat eyes will watch our large mouthsShaped by the laughter of big childrenWhat eyes will watch our large mouth?What police van will listen to our clamoring?What ear to our pitiful angerWhich grows in us like a tumorIn the black deepness of our plaintive throats?When our Dead comes with their DeadWhen they have spoken to us in their clumsy voicesJust as our ears were deafTo their cries, to their wild appealsJust as our ears were deafThey have left on the earth their cries,In the air, on the water , where they have traced their signs For us blind deaf and unworthy SonsWho see cypher of what they have madeIn the air, on the water, where they have traced their signsAnd since we did not earn the deadSince we have never listen to their criesIf we weep, gently, gentlyIf we cry roughly to our tormentsWhat heart will listen to our clamoring,What ear to our sobbing hearts?