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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, 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
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 negroes, but we're just like the whites. One leg before, one leg behind, we are free and willful children.
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
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 23
Word count: 86