Césaire's tombstone

«La pression atmosphérique ou plutôt l’historique
Agrandit démesurément mes maux
Même si elle rend somptueux certains de mes mots».

“The atmospheric or rather historic pressure
even if it makes certain words of mine sumptuous
immeasurably increases my plight”
(translated by Clayton Eshleman and Annette Smith)

These, the closing lines from his poem “Lagoonal Calendar” from I, Laminaria (1982), were chosen by Aimé Césaire himself to be engraved on the marble tombstone in the La Joyau cemetery where he is buried.

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