A Light Between Us & Other Poems – Patrick Sylvain

A Light Between Us

I kissed your left eye,
Your gaze morphed into starlight.

You squeezed my right hand,
Silence slipped between us.

The last rays of a reddish-yellow light
Filtered through gray river birches.

We smiled. Your head rested on my chest,
I felt a drumroll; you heard butterflies.

Yon Limyè nan Mitan nou

Mwen bo zye goch ou,
Rega ou mòfoze an limyè zetwal.

Ou peze men dwat mwen,
Silans glise nan mitan n’.

Dènye reyon solèy wouj-jonat
Filtre nan pyebwa boulo gri bò larivyè.

Nou souri. Tèt ou poze sou pwatrin mwen,
Mwen santi woulman yo tanbou; ou tande zèl papiyon.

Conjuror

Arched back, firm thighs, thrusted shoulders,
through sweat your body beckons promises. 

With a charged Nago drum beat,
I am enchanted by your dancing feet:

bare, sturdy; a moving feat, knowing

how to conjure memories of the Baobab while reaching
the future as drums carry us across a transmigration of soul.

Entèpelatè

Do koube, kwis fèm, zepòl kanbre,
atravè swe kò ou, ou sinyale pwomès.

Avèk yon tanbou Nago djanmte,
pye ou k’ap make pa lemante m’:

pye-a-tè, solid; yon mouvman leman ki konnen

pou evoke memwa Baobab pandan w’ap touche lavni
pandan tanbou transpòte n’ atravè yon transmigrasyon nanm.

Transgressions

Your gods must have opened the Atlantic gates
to let flow into the ports of Sene-Gambia, and Ghana
your galleons that spit fire from their bows, and cargoed

muscular and tender human flesh along with salted
fish and kola nuts. Strange how your delicate
and civilised hands just fell from their heavenly stations
across the waists and thighs of curvy ebonies.

Transgresyon

Bondye ou yo dwe louvri pòtay Atlantik yo
pou kite file-antre nan pò Sene-Gambi, ak Gàna
galyon ou yo ki krache dife nan banza yo, epi kagezon

moun ak kò miskle oubyen soup ansanm ak pwason
sale epi labapen. Etranj jan men delika epi
sivilize ou yo jis sòti tonbe nan estasyon selès yo
pou ateri sou ren ak kwis souplès bèl nègrès.

Patrick Sylvain is a poet, writer, social and literary critic. Twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Published in several creative anthologies, journals, periodicals, and reviews including: African American Review, Agni, American Poetry Review, Callaloo, The Caribbean Writer, Chicago Quarterly Review, Ep;phany, Magma Poetry, Ploughshares, and Prairie Schooner. Sylvain is also a featured poet on Benjamin Boone’s Poetry and Jazz CDs The Poets are Gathering, and Caught in the Rhythm (Origin Records, Oct 2020, Nov 2023). Sylvain has degrees from the University of Massachusetts (B.A.), Harvard University (Ed.M.), Boston University (MFA), and Brandeis University (PhD). Sylvain is an Assistant Professor at Simmons University, and he is also on faculty at Harvard University’s History and Literature Division. Sylvain’s poetry chapbook, Underworlds, is published by Central Square Press (2018), and he is the leading author of Education Across Borders: Immigration, Race, and Identity in the Classroom (Beacon Press, Feb 2022). His updated bilingual collection, Unfinished Dreams // Rèv San Bout will be published by Central Square Press, July 2025.

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