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Poetry

Kriol Soldier

By Emiliana Bernard-Stephenson
Translated from San Andrés–Providencia Creole by the author
Afro-Colombian writer Emiliana Bernard-Stephenson pens an ode to her mother tongue, San Andrés–Providencia Creole.
Dark coral reefs under aquamarine ocean water
Coral reefs in McBean Lagoon, off the coast of Providencia. Photo by Felviper, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Listen to Emiliana Bernard read "Kriol Soldier" in the original San Andrés-Providencia Creole
 
 
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Kriol is both my window and my door
Open all day, open all night, open all the time
Never closed nor asleep because they might wipe it out, just like a dime

Kriol is my yesterday and my today,
Tomorrow is unknown, and the day after tomorrow is one
many of us will owe

These days Kriol is a song many people do not want to sing
Some do not know it . . . and some do not like it.
Many are ashamed to talk it, because the white man does not like it

Kriol still has its people though,
I am one of those long-tongue Kriol soldiers
I will talk it and bark it every day on my walks

Kriol, sweet Kriol, my Kriol,
You and I will always be together until the end of my soul.

Copyright © by Emiliana Bernard-Stephenson. Translation copyright © by Emiliana Bernard-Stephenson. All rights reserved. 

English San Andrés–Providencia Creole (Original)

Kriol is both my window and my door
Open all day, open all night, open all the time
Never closed nor asleep because they might wipe it out, just like a dime

Kriol is my yesterday and my today,
Tomorrow is unknown, and the day after tomorrow is one
many of us will owe

These days Kriol is a song many people do not want to sing
Some do not know it . . . and some do not like it.
Many are ashamed to talk it, because the white man does not like it

Kriol still has its people though,
I am one of those long-tongue Kriol soldiers
I will talk it and bark it every day on my walks

Kriol, sweet Kriol, my Kriol,
You and I will always be together until the end of my soul.

Krioul Souldia

Krioul dah mai winda an mai duo tugeda
Opin all die, open all nait, open all taim
No cluose nar sliip bicass them mait iradicate it laik a daim

Krioul da mai yeside an mai tude,
tumaroo we neva nuo
an afta tumarro da wan die plenty a wi guain juow

Krioul da uan sang plenty no uan sing now a dies
Some no nuo it, nar want jier it . . . an some se dem no laik it
A pail a dem shiem fi taak it bicass wait man no laik it

Bot Krioul stil gat fih him piplu duo
Me da uan a di lang tong Krioul souldia dem
Will tak it, baak it an maak it evy daie in mai waak

Krioul, sueet krioul, mai krioul . . .
mek an you tugeda to dih end af mai suol

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