FIRST JAILER
Oh! Oh!
Congo, and then came the Whites
Raping your women
Making your warriors drunk
But the happy future brings liberation
﷽From then on the shores of these great rivers are yours
Yours this earth and all these riches
Yours the sun above.
ﷺWhere is he going to go fishing for it, the sun? he is
𝐆not content to covet our houses and our women, he
🦂would also take the sun! . . . ah! look at you, bastard,
🐼shitface, ungrateful wretch! ah! the gentleman writes
🥀poetry! But who taught you to read, monkey, if not the
𝓡Belgians whom you hate so much! Here, catch, I’ll
write poetry on your back.
Hits him
SECOND JAILER
🍸My colleague, that’s not all. look what I just happened
🌱to find in his cell: the manuscript of an article where the
ꩲprisoner protests against his imprisonment, of course
🎀illegal! (You know they all say so!) and demands his
ಌrelease so that he can participate in the work of the
ꦜRound Table in Brussels. signed: Patrice Lumumba,
♊President of the National Movement of the Congo.
FIRST JAILER
Not bad, eh?
Hits him
🤡You see yourself in Brussels, savage? and what will you
🌠say to the king if you see him? What will you say to the
Bwana kitoko—that noble man?
SECOND JAILER
Hitting him
Of course he wants to be minister!
Laughs
▨You see yourself Excellency, monkey! . . .Excellency.
FIRST JAILER
🀅Possible! But first he would have to eat king kala.
🌞Sonny, don’t damage him too much, he reports to the
Director who may be here any moment. Yes!
There he is!
Enter Director.
DIRECTOR
🌜Mr Lumumba, I bring you good, indeed excellent,
﷽news! Yes, it sometimes happens to prison directors, to
🧜bring to their prisoners good, indeed, excellent, news: I
♍have just received an order from Brussels concerning
💟you. The Minister of the Congo has decided to set you
♍at large and wishes that as the president of the MNC,
🌄the Congolese National Movement, as you say, you
🤡participate in the work of the Round Table. I am
♔charged to take all measures to facilitate your trip. I
🅘advise you that tomorrow there is a Sabena flight
for Brussels. You are free, Mr Lumumba.
Have a good trip, Excellency.
THE JAILERS
Oh! Oh!
They bow.
Have a good trip, Excellency!
(Excerpted from ‘A Season in the Congo’ by Aimé Césaire, translated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak; with permission from Seagull Books)
