Women are strong

Women are strong so they make men

When women give a hard time to men
They are strong

Women turn men into what they are

When they feed them from kids into men
When their breasts are full
And talk about the country to their kids
Each drop of milk
Is a patriotic expression in the heart of children
Even before they end breastfeeding
They are already maroons
Women make men who they are.

When men say rubbish

Women put them back into place
Speaking the language of the country
Speaking the love of the country
Women make these men say the correct things
And before these men call out
They are already maroons

Women
Women of men
Women that transform men into men

Aren’t these women strong?

When they have used all their womanhood
For men
Women make men who they are
Women turn men into men
Women who lead must teach others
How to be women

Think about the way women were killing their kids

So there would be fewer slaves
Think about the way women made their masters collapse
In the confusion of poison without witness
So there would be less torture

Women
You don’t know how strong you are.

Excerpted from M’Bitako (Ogis Berthely), ‘Neg Mawon’, 27th May 1998
Copyright New Legend, 2001.
Translation by Jimmy Robert