A ray of sunshine, the rooster, the scratching broom
Outside full of running noises, in the yard the three-legged dog
Margarine and bread soaked in tea for breakfast
The house wakes up and grandma serves the milk
On the walls Mary, sweet Jesus, son of God the Father
And still continuously the radio blabbers
On a doily, a vase of plastic flowers
You count your rosary, grandma, you list your principles
Respect, family, marriage
The flowering jacaranda spreads its shade
It's not a sad song
It's just a pause
A day in Butare

Noon sharp, the Angelus rings
And the air smells of eucalyptus
We go for a walk under the arch of trees
I take you for a walk on the main boulevard
When your stern face breaks into a smile
The jacarandas start to bloom
I want to know everything about a grandfather I don't know
There are absentees you don't talk about
And the afternoon slowly wears out
Even today I miss your face
It's not a sad song, it's just a pause, a stop
A day in Butare

The sun sets, God returns to Rwanda
The sky has shades of jacaranda purple
When the bats start their racket
It's time for the pale lights to come on
In your big house where night falls
Some friends drop by unexpectedly
A lemongrass tea, an Amstel foam
We speak in hushed tones, about so-and-so and so-and-so
Tomorrow I leave for distant France
I will miss you grandma, how I love you
How I loved you all these years
It's not a sad song, it's a pause

It's quiet at grandma's
We didn't really take care of the garden
There's always a wheelbarrow lying around
There's the sound of birds, roosters nearby
There's the smell of eucalyptus and the mist of Butare
The steam coming out of the mouth, the tip of the nose getting cold
The pink of the morning sky
The doors that creak and the people who whisper
She always has outdated pajamas as desired
Those we see in old movies, in, in westerns
Grandma always puts a net on her head to sleep, and often curlers
When she makes exhausting movements for a woman her age
Like taking off her shoes or, at the end of a long day
When she feels her back stiffen as she sits on her bed
She punctuates the movement with a "ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah"
Grandma heats a little water in the morning
Which she mixes with cold water so we can wash
Because, it's cool in the morning in Butare.

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