My story | I was very small

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by Jules Supervielle (1884 - 1960)

Translation © by Faith J. Cormier

Mon histoire

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

J'étais toute petite
Quand un grand négrier,
Cachant la vérité,
Me fit venir d'Afrique.

On nous entassa toutes
Dans une barque à voiles
Et je compris en route
Que j'étais une esclave!

Devant la vérité
Pauvre de moi, mes frères,
Voyez cette misère,
Horrible à constater.

Ah! je n'étais plus même
Précipitation,
J'étais calamité
Et indignation.

Maintenant on est libre
De tous ses mouvements,
On a beau être nègre,¹
On est comme les Blancs.

La jambe par devant,
La jambe par derrière,
Nous sommes des enfants
 Libres et volontaires.

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Text Authorship:

by Jules Supervielle (1884 - 1960), appears in Bolivar [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974), "Mon histoire", op. 148b no. 1 (1936), published 1937 [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ], from Trois Chansons de Négresse, no. 1, R. Deiss [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "My story", copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 89

My story

Language: English after the French (Français)

I was very small
when a tall slave-trader, 
hiding the truth, 
brought me from Africa. 

We were all 
crammed into a sailing ship, 
and I found out during the journey
that I was a slave! 

Before the truth, 
poor me, my brothers, 
look on this misery, 
horrible to see. 

I was no longer even 
precipitation. 
I was calamity 
and indignation. 

Now we're totally free. 

We may be negroes¹,
but we're just like the whites. 

One leg before, 
one leg behind, 
we are free and
willful children.

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¹ properly translated, this word would get our website banned by censorware.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2002 by Faith J. Cormier, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Jules Supervielle (1884 - 1960), appears in Bolivar
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 23
Word count: 86