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The poem Fu Ori Wi Tongo Hei by the Surinamese poet Michaël Slory.
Fu ori wi tongo hei | To hold our language high |
No meki a tongo disi lasi gwe so lawlaw. Wan dei wi ben kon miti, wi ben si taki a ben fiti fu taki en bun. No meki a tongo disi lasi gwe so lawlaw. Yu kan memre ete den barlafu di wi ben e puru na den bakadina? A gitara na doromofo… Dan, wan anansitori na sei a trapu na fesi den lo fu den krekrekrere.
No meki a tongo disi lasi gwe so lawlaw. Te den kotomisi ben weri den koto, waka pasa … redi, noso … nanga dungrubroin tu. Na angisa, a kopro embre, na alanyatiki na mofo. Wan breiti sekseki: wan odo komoto … Aw!!… No meki a tongo disi lasi gwe so lawlaw. | Don't make this language get lost so carelessly. On the day we met we saw fit to speak it well. Don't make this language get lost so carelessly.
Do you still recall the loud laughs we burst in the afternoons? The guitar on the doorstep… Then, an anansi story beside the stairs facing blossoms abundant in the krerekrere shrub. Don't make this language get lost so carelessly. When the kotomisi dressed in their koto-garbs passed by … red, and … dark brown too. The head scarfs, the copper bucket, a pomelo branch in their mouth. One happy sway: an odo-saying emerges … Ouch!! …
Don't make this language get lost so carelessly. |
*Anansi Stories - legends originating from the Akan people, native to Ghana.
*koto - Traditional female clothing of afro-surinamese origin.
*kotomisi - black women from Suriname who wear the koto.
**Poem written in Sranam Tongo
*** Translation from the exhibition "Powema Tori" at the Taal Museum (Accessed at: https://express.adobe.com/page/Qf4thGShAfVE5/ by July and August 2023).
About The Poet
Michaël Arnoldus Slory (1935-2018) was a Surinamese poet. He publishes his work in Sranan Tongo, Dutch, and Spanish. Raised in an isolated district in Suriname, Slory wrote in as pure a Sranan Tongo as possible. He is considered the most important poet in Sranan Tongo. "Even though he was lauded by literary critics, he always remained well below the poverty line."
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