With Bata Drums

Serigne Bamba Bayefall,
Ndongo Talibe!

Greetings and Peace,
and words of a pearl of oil
from Indianapolis
along the river
Alaro-idofin.

With a keening
procession of doves,
proceeding to mouridoulahi,
veils upon veils
are lifted.

The Mystic Poet,
my father Siam,
speaks well of you
and of the sun
of your eyes.

The tenth door
trembles at silence...

Father!

The tenth door
opens to the path of light.

I will tread
the path of light,
for the sun of your eyes
is a re-birth
of my ancestral suns.