Malagasy Romantic Poet Rabearivelo's "I" from "From the Night"

Malagasy Romantic Poet Rabearivelo's "I" from From the Night

I
A scarlet star
evolves in the depths of the sky--

what flower blooms in the prairie of the night?
Evolves, evolves,
then becomes like a kite released by a sleeping child.

It seems to drift both nearer and farther away,
loses its color like a drooping flower,
becomes cloud, becomes white, diminishes:
is no more than a diamond point
graving the blue mirror of the sky
where the glorious lure
of the nubile morning is already seen.

Other Madagascar Posts:
"Lunar Images" from Rabearivelo's From the Night
"Fruits" from Rabearivelo's Almost-Dreams
"9" from Rabearivelo's From the Night
"51" from Rabearivelo's Old Songs From Imerina Lands
"Zebu"from Rabearivelo's Almost Dreams
Peace Corps Vignette on Mango Season in Madagascar
Business Case Study on Mango Production in Madagascar
African Poets of the Week Compilation

Malagasy poet Rabearivelo's "Lunar Images" from 'Almost Dreams' (Saiky-Nofy)

Poem of the week from Malagasy poet Rabearivelo's "Lunar Images" from 'Almost Dreams' (Saiky-Nofy)

Lunar Images (Sarisarim-Bolona)

Moonlight, moonlight--what then?

Do not drink too much of the milk that drips
from the teats of this savage one-eyed dog
baying into the wild lands of the sky
as though to summon from within the desert of the night
its countless offspring
opening their eyes: myriads of stars

Moonlight, moonlight--what then?

The wind itself is milky,
which shakes the sculpted shadows
on the earth
and multiplies the number of visible
souls of all things
that seem to flee the baying--silent
but resounding everywhere

Moonlight, moonlight--what then?

Do you see those gentle birds
that grow within the spectral landscape?
They feed on shadow,
they peck at night.
What will they fill their crops
when the stalks of rice and corn
carried off by the cocks
become songs in them?

Moonlight, moonlight--what then?

I am no longer young enough
to seek a lunar sister outside
after the games of little girls:
I will hold my children on my lap until they fall asleep,
and there are many books to be read with my wife
until the moon changes
and becomes itself for us
while waiting for the dawn
that will overtake us on the shores of sleep.

Other Madagascar Posts:
"Fruits" from Rabearivelo's Almost-Dreams
"9" from Rabearivelo's From the Night
"51" from Rabearivelo's Old Songs From Imerina Lands
"Zebu"from Rabearivelo's Almost Dreams
Peace Corps Vignette on Mango Season in Madagascar
Business Case Study on Mango Production in Madagascar
African Poets of the Week Compilation

"Fruits" from Rabearivelo's "Almost-Dreams"

"Fruits" from Rabearivelo's "Almost-Dreams"

Fruits

You may choose

among the fruits of the perfumed season;

but this is what I will show you:

two plump mangos

where you may suck the sun melted within.

Which will you take?

This one, as double and firm

 as the breasts of a young girl,

and which is acid?

Or that one, pulpy and sweet as honey?

One will be only passionate delights, 

but will have no offspring

and will be covered by the grass.

The other,

a spring gushing from the rock,

will refresh your throat

and then become a vault full of echos in your courtyard,

and those who come after you will gather there fragments of the sun.

About the poet:
As someone who has always been drawn to the French Romantic poets, Rabearivelo strikes a chord with me.  As African poets go he's an obscure despite laying claim to the unofficial title as "Africa's first modern poet."
   
He died by suicide, in 1937 having lived his entire life on what was then the French pastoral colony of Madagascar (he was prohibited by the authorities from leaving the island).

Other Madagascar Posts:
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/08/poem-of-week-jean-joseph-rabearivelo-9.html
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/11/rabearivelo.51.songs.poetry.madagascar.html
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/11/5-from-rabearivelos-from-night-nadika.html
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/12/rabearivelos-zebu-from-almost-dreams.html
http://kruzoo.blogspot.com/2013/01/mangoseason.madagascar.html
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/49911288/Mango-Groove-(A)-1-Mahajanga-Madagascar

Some of my favorite poetry books: