The worst is over, I imagine,
I hope
now I’m walking again,
on these bleeding legs
walking and walking
until we finally reach the sugar mill
where I will rest
in the stocks
while receiving my twenty-five
lashes
Seven officials gather around me,
demanding answers
do they imagine that the overseer
will dare to let me go
if I tell the truth again and again?
or do they imagine that I will be released
if I try a few lies
and claim that I took the missing game hen:
I ate it
the meat was tender
my belly is full?
or what about this one:
I took it to sell
so that I could buy a fancy hat
for courting the sweet, pretty girls?
I choose the hat,
and seven officials now want to see it
but there is no hat
only the one
I imagined
so I say I bought shoes,
but I have no shoes
the questions and answers go on and on
I tell a thousand and one lies
trying to save myself
from the torment