A keresés eredménye

What has become of the Desert

The Ténéré1 has become
an upland of thorns
Where elephants fight each other
Crushing tender grass under foot.
 
The gazelles have found refuge high in the mountains
The birds no longer return to their nests at night
The camps have all fled.
 
You can read the bitterness on the faces of the innocents
During this difficult and bruising time
In which all solidarity has gone.
 
The strongest impose their will
And leave the weakest behind
Many have died battling for twisted ends.
And joy has abandoned us
Exhausted by all this duplicity.
 

• 1. Ténéré is a Tamashek word meaning empty land or desert. The plural of the word is tinariwen.

Why all this hate

Why all this hate between you which you teach your children
The world looks at you and surpasses your understanding
 
You who resemble neither a westerner nor an Arab
Your faith in the tribes blinds you to the truth
 
Even if God were to send a blessing down for you to share
With a friend, they will only betray your confidence.
 

The girls in Boghassa

The girls in Boghassa will never know
That we fled since the first attack.
 
And now these men
Were entrusted by the front with a task:
They must prove that they are brave.
 
We liberate our village with old rifles
and with knives or stones
otherwise we'll all die together.
 
And when I then think of how we fought
without water at dawn
I remember that our men were brave.
 
The girls in Boghassa will never know
That we fled since the first attack.
 

Ya messinagh

Ya messinagh hikfan lassbarr
Tad adunya tarha lefkar
Imidiwan
A tat djanegh kud hi tennam
Ahi tangham megh hi toyyem
Tidet tididagh har kuk tekfar
Ere s tat adjad attas tekfar