Un Bloc Démocratique:::....

My buddy is a Poet. However, he refuses to allow me to share some of his brilliant poetry on this blog. I can't say I blame him though. Poems tend to be personal by nature... 

Profile:   Leopold Sedar Senghor (September,1906 - December, 2001)

Significance: He was an influential Senegalese poet, politician, and thinker who served as the first Senegalese President. Also contributing to the Negritude cultural movement (among other things), Senghor was known throughout Africa as one of the most important intellectuals of the 20th Century. His poems are said to "contrast the lushness and wonder of Africa's past with the alienation and loss associated with assimilation into European culture." (Source)

Samples: Two excerpts I think most people tend to appreciate are from "Black Woman" & "And the Sun." Originally written in French, they've been translated so that they may be enjoyed by the English speaker.

"Black Woman" (Lines 10-19)

Naked woman, Dark woman

Ripe fruit with firm flesh, dark raptures of black wine,

Mouth gives music to mouth

Savanna of clear horizons, savanna quivering to the fervent caress

Of the East Wind, sculptured tom-tom, stretched drumskin

Moaning under the hands of the conqueror

Your deep contralto voice is the spiritual song of the

Beloved.

"And the Sun" (Lines 12-17)

I think of you when I am walking or swimming,

Sitting or standing, I think of you morning and night,

When I cry in the evening, and Oh yes, when I laugh

When I speak to myself and when I remain silent

in my join and pain. When I think and do not think,

My dear, I'm always thinking of you!

(These will be good passages to present your loved ones with on Valz day.)

Thank you, L.S.S.

--Fx/F