“Genealogy” by Sylvie Kandé, translated from the French by Nancy Naomi Carlson
Genealogy
Happy is he who like this ancestor
bequeaths to an island well
his name
THE BUCKET would bang against the walls of the well
as if sounding each beat of its dive
and weighty descent into the bowels of time
its return in a splash like a prodigal child
Cool and sweet the collected water would ripple on our hands
But this wide jerry can with sheared-off top slides down
(without jolts or noise
at the sole whim of the swelling rope)
until reaching the deepest depths drowned in mysteries
until blurring the orb of water and light
where the rônier palm gazes down at its stern crown’s reflection
Yellow and sleek
surprisingly light and efficient
this plastic delou
will also hold on to memories
with its bountiful spoils of reflections and teardrops
Remember the ones who will be your descendants says the sage
blood like the bucket ascends drifts a little then falls back
it’s like a remembrance full of teachings
THE ROPE braided with three strands of doubt
yet comforting like a fanciful origin story
compliantly comes and goes
One day it had to be secured
to a tree trunk uprooted by sea wind
shriveled by heat then finally rolled
roots exposed near the mouth of the well
With this crossbar thus grazing the ground
the well swallowed the rope—
now a third party
between clay and brushwood
lips and womb
past and vision
hoisting toward the light
its load of truths about ancient bloodlines
(At the time of the boring didn’t the well-digger foretell
that the site was auspicious agreeing
the well would proffer the loftiest words…)
They say someone’s wife
leaning over the orifice
one night may have suffered some splashing
And so with one hand she picks up
pagnes and stains while the other hand grabs
the damp undulating rope
Her legs venturing over the edge she sinks down
into the narrow circle of repentance
(where she’ll drown her shame and end her lineage)
But the rope erodes from too much time spent on the well’s edge
and one by one dislodges the bricks
Moss and saltpeter deposits together end up invading
every crack the smallest gap
Heed not the whispers of gossips says the sage
remember your dreams be their devoted disciple
Here you remember best when snapping your fingers
As for a RIM our well pretty much has none
just barely defined by a cylinder-shaped elevation
next to a downed tree
And no fallen woman
maybe one or two suspected
who sometimes faltered at dawn
No fetus to retrieve from drowning no transgression
the water is pure and quenches thirst
(Brackish says the merchant
come from afar astride his donkey)
Ah may the child of my child
a bucket balanced on her thoughts
one day feel the icy pearls of water rolling down
her assured brow to her numbed feet
Or may she offer her song as fodder
to guardian spirits
who feeling themselves abandoned by us
work twice as hard to bury our thirst in sand
to drain our posterity
For if water slowly was to be lost…
If by any chance let’s say! it refused to spring up
haloed as in olden days with the scent of genesis
or failed to reflect (instead of the labile rônier palm)
this child-like face peering into the chalice
where its surfacing coos…
The sage says blessed be your ancestor the Impervious One
who left to an island well
his name
Sylvie Kandé
Sylvie Kandé’s three poetry collections have all been published by Gallimard, one of the most prestigious publishers in France. Her first volume contains a postface by Édouard Glissant. Her second volume won the 2017 Prix Lucienne Garcia-Vincent and was short-listed for the Prix Mahogany and the Prix des Découvreurs. Gestuaire (2016) was a recipient of the 2017 Prix Louise Labé under the auspices of the Saint John Perse Foundation and was short-listed for the Prix Ethiophile and the Prix Kowalski des lycéens. Kandé earned her doctorate in African history from the Sorbonne and founded the program of Francophone Studies at New York University. She currently serves as a professor in the History & Philosophy department at SUNY Old Westbury. Most recently, she received a SUNY chancellor’s award for excellence in scholarship and creative activities.