courage (11) Avery Bertrand Iradukunda
In these troubled times, we asked a number of authors we admire what ‘courage’ means to them. In the coming weeks, you can read their answers here, in the form of a poem, a memory, an anecdote or a more philosophical reflection.
Turi kumwe
In my father’s language this means
‘we are inseparable’
when in pain or filled with unexpected joy
because life can be lonely.
At the end of an outstretched hand
something beautiful is blooming,
something finite and seemingly odd,
feeling infinite,
leaving traces.
It connects,
it’s in every one of us.
You don’t see it,
you breathe it in.
When your shoulder sinks,
it pulls up your chin,
it grows from the heart,
not from the eye.
With every sigh you make
something wonderfully grand emerges.
Turi kumwe
‘Whatever you feel, I'll experience myself.’
When you lose your courage,
I’ll share mine with you.
When I can’t go any further,
you carry my next step.
You are not alone.
We are together.
We carry each other.
Translated from the Dutch by Passa Porta
Avery Bertrand Iradukunda was born in Rwanda and grew up in Belgium. His poems can be found on social media, on his blog ‘Underneath the color’, on the stage and in the anthology AfroLit. Moderne literatuur uit de Afrikaanse diaspora (ed. Dalilla Hermans en Ebissé Rouw, Uitgeverij Pluim, Amsterdam, 2020).
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