Happy Birthday, Noémia de Sousa!
Born Carolina Noémia Abranches de Sousa Soares in then-Lourenço Marques, Mozambique, on Sept. 20, 1926, poet, journalist, diplomatic servicemember, and translator Noémia de Sousa, who also used the pseudonym Vera Micaia, died in Cascais, Portugal, in December 2002. She was heavily involved in Mozambique’s literary anti-colonial movement. The poem below, “Nossa voz” (“Our voice”), dated June 8, 1949, is from a notebook of her poems that she collected over many years called “Sangue negro” (“Black blood”).
“Our voice”
Our voice arose aware and barbarous
upon the white egotism of men
upon everyone’s murderous indifference.
Our voice wet from the hinterland dew
our voice burning like the sun for the taro
our atabaque voice calling
our sword of Maguiguana* voice
our voice, brother,
our voice went beyond the conformist atmosphere of the city
and revolutionized it
dragging it like a cyclone of knowledge.
And it awoke with the remorse of yellow hyena eyes
and made cold sweat run on the condemned
and lit lights of hope in dark souls of the hopeless…
Our voice, brother!
our atabaque voice calling.
Our full moon voice in the dark night of hopelessness
our lighthouse voice in a sea of storms
our voice polishing the bars of jails, secular jails
our voice, brother! our thousand voice,
our voice, millions of voices clamoring!
Our voice squirming, shaking impure sacks,
our voice fat on misery,
our voice dragging shackles
our nostalgic voice of the impious
our voice Africa
our voice tired of the masturbation of war drums
our black voice screaming, screaming, screaming!
Our voice that discovered all the way to the bottom,
down where the frogs croak
the immense, inexpressible bitterness, huge like the world,
from the simple word SLAVERY:
Our voice screaming nonstop,
our voice pointing the way
our xipalapala** voice
our atabaque voice calling
our voice, brother!
our voice millions of voices clamoring, clamoring, clamoring!
*Maguiguana Cossa was a late 19th century military leader of the Nguni people, distinguishing himself in the fight against the Portuguese under Ngungunhane.
**A bugle made from the horn of an impala, cow, or buffalo. Precursor of the vuvuzela,