This audio is from Ella Amoussou presenting the poem "Trying to open my eyes"

in the book " My Vision and My Glasses" by Gabin Conrad Afangnide

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Trying to open my eyes

Behind me the wind

Behind me the dust of my memories

Behind me the songs of the birds

The  song of griots

The cry of the children

The cry of people under bondage

The cry of many peasants

The cries of many workers

The acute and threatening cry of visible and invisible pain

I still see in this landscape the remains of the battles

I still find in my memory of human all these historical values that flow

All the efforts made by our predecessors

The blood spilled to safeguard the legacy

The little we can touch

The little that makes us worthy people

The few things we inherited

Joy and bravery

Bravery and knowledge

Knowledge and skills

Knowledge and history

History of the life

Life in the society

Life and joy

Joy and pain

The pain and the hardship

Suffering and stubbornness

Stubbornness and cries

Cries of pain

The imposed pains

The pains that men have built

The pains that follow men

The pains we can’t hide

The pains that we’re trying to endure

The  pains that stifle us everyday

The pains too strong and meaningless

The  pains that stain men and women faces

The scratch that makeup can’t remove

The unremovable signs of poverty and shame

That what they set up for us

That what we got

That weight still weakening our strength

That seems to be a strong shadow on our life

That seems to darken our skin

We only have one thing

We need to make our dream

We need  to bring a change in our mind

We can make that change

By  GABIN CONRAD Afangnide