My lover dropped this oval mirror
I was reading the Manden Charter by the window
It was the first charter of human rights
Transmitted orally even during the kélé (war)

Let’s add a paragraph for the birds
They who can sing all night long
This piece of broken mirror
Is my talisman against boredom

And all day long, with my forehead in wosi (sweat)
I knead the clay sokhoma dyouna (early morning)
My pots are living gods
They remind me of love and the sun

And the moon has the smile that my life lacks
I have summoned the fato (mad) God of the night hours
Make him give me back the man I love
The hibiscus bend under the east wind

I gnongri (kneel down)
I kana kouma bitougou (speak no more)
San dibihnlo (the sky is getting darker)
M’bé i fé (I love you) Traveler
Can you tie this leather té sitilan (belt)
And tighten it around my hips?
During the folonkondon (whirlwind)

I became Komotigui (highest level of spiritual knowledge)
By raising the soul of a deer
To the unshakeable heavens
My face took the horns of the beast
And my skin has become tawny velvet

Play me a kora tune (guitar from Mali)
Lay your hand on my sihn (breast)
Let the stars and the kaba (clouds) dance,
Let the sky be troubled with passion

Like our malleable souls
Let the shining trees dance
Let their tops quiver with desire
M’bé i fé (I love you) Traveler

A Malinke sword with bangs
In my right hand
The drops of dyoli (blood) beaded
On the cheek of my lover

The moon dried his wound
But my heart remained open to the sky
Haunted by his impatient sougnalila (thief)
A dondoli (wasp) landed on my hand

Here the xylophone gives rhythm to the seasons
The bards remember the births
The fourou (weddings) sparkle in the pale night
And the douléin (shadow) of passion populates the vaults

I kana gnina (do not forget)
My wet heart and the braids along my temples
And my blue eyes when I saw you throughout the night
I called out to you through the broken mirror
Your soul flew away, a dakha (canary) appeared

He looked at me like an omen
My copper bracelets turned to gold
When I finally understood that you loved me
Can you tie this leather tee sitilan (belt)
And tighten it around my hips?
During the folonkondon (whirlwind)

I gnongri (kneel down)
I kana kouma bitougou (speak no more)
San dibihnlo (the sky is getting darker)
M’bé i fé (I love you) Traveler
Can you tie this leather tee sitilan (belt)
And tighten it around my hips?
During the folonkondon (whirlwind)