TAKE IT EASY, BROTHER!
So, I decided to sink the slave ships
drown the captains and crew
in the same salt of the same sea that sucked out my corroded remains
but then this voice whispered in my ear:
– Take it easy, brother!
So, I decided to set fire to the master’s house
burn the madams and the masters
In the same bonfire where they heated the iron that scorched my flesh
but then this voice whispered in my ear:
– Take it easy, brother!
So, I decided to shoot the slave hunter in the head
take control of the battlefield I lived in
with the same shotgun they aimed at my back when I ran away
but then this voice whispered in my ear:
– Take it easy, brother!
So, I decided to slit the Princess Imperial’s throat
exterminate the fallacies of abolition once and for all
with the same blade they used to cut off my black fugitive fingers
but then this voice whispered in my ear:
– Take it easy, brother!
So, I decided to kidnap the factory owner
to compensate for the shortcomings in my minuscule wage,
with the same indifference they used to kidnap me with active force
but then this voice whispered in my ear:
– Take it easy, brother!
So, I decided to punch the first motherfucker I saw,
to bleed dry the oligarchy of the people who always silence us,
with the same closed fist they’ve always used on us
but then this voice whispered in my ear:
– Take it easy, brother!
NELSON MACA
in “Gramática da Ira” (Salvador, Blackitude press, 2015)
English translation by Sarah Rebecca Kersley & Nelson Maca.
More Nelson Maca:
TAKE IT EASY, BROTHER! in Portuguese.