Ένας Νέγρος Θερμαστής Από Το Τζιμπουτί [Énas Négros Thermastís Apó To Tzimboutí] [English translation]

Willy, the black stoker from Djibouti

Every time he finished his night shift

He used to come to find me in my chamber, laughing

And he used to talk to me for many hours about strange things

He told me how they smoke hashish1 in Algiers

And how they inhale the white dust2 in Aden3, dancing

And later how they shout and how they soliloquise

When the dizziness surrounds them with bizarre dreams

He also told me that, one night when he was drunk, he saw

That he was riding the waves of the sea on a steed

And that behind him, mermaids with wings were running

"Once we go to Aden" he told me "you'll try some too!"

I gave him sweets and blades and razors as gifts

And told him that hashish kills the man

And then he broke into loud laughters

And lifted me up only with one hand

Inside his huge body, he had an innocent heart

One night, inside the bar Regina in Marseille

In order to protect me from a Spaniard

He was hit with an empty bottle on his head

One day we left him dry because of the fever

Up in the Far East, to burn, to melt

Oh, dear God of the blacks! Forgive the good Will

And give him, wherever he is, some of this white dust

1. Intoxicating drug derived from cannabis2. Cocaine3. A port city in Yemen

• Artist:Nikos Kavvadias
• Album:Ο Σταυρός Του Νότου (1979)