Michaella Rugwizangoga, Cyarwa cya nyarwaya

Michaella Rugwizangoga is a young Rwandan writer, award-winning poet, spoken word artist, designer and scientist.  She writes and performs in French, English, German, Spanish, and Kinyarwanda, and has shared her poetry on numerous stages throughout the world (in Kigali, Kaiserslautern, Paris, Berlin, and elsewhere).  She co-founded "Words of the World" (#WOTW), which is an open-mic and poetry platform based in Germany and Rwanda. 


Cyarwa is the birthplace of her mother. She left when she was two years old and came back when she was forty, accompanied by her older brother. This poem is the story of their return after years of shared exile, in Burundi, Belgium, Ivory Coast, and France.

(cfr. http://wordswithoutborders.org/article/writing-genocide

Michaella Rugwizangoga - Photo by BBC

Tua figlia è tornata stamattina
Tuo figlio ti ha abbracciata ancora
Cyarwa cya nyarwaya
Le tue storie scorrono nel sangue dei miei cari
Le tue radici sono scritte nelle linee delle nostre mani
Cyarwa cya nyarwaya
Tu, la terra di mio nonno
Tu, la terra di mia nonna
Tu, dimora della mia famiglia
Lontano da te abbiamo creato
Lontano da te abbiamo costruito
Altri sentieri ed altri destini
Altre vite ed altri progetti
Cyarwa cya nyarwaya
Oggi noi torniamo
Oggi noi piantiamo di nuovo
All' ombra dell'eucalipto ci raduniamo
Ci racconterai delle vostre vite
Noi riempiremo il vuoto
Ci racconterai il segreto delle colline
La sinuosità delle tue linee
Il profumo dei tuoi fiori
Il dolore delle tue lacrime
La dolcezza delle tue ore
Cyarwa cya nyarwaya
Tua figlia è tornata stamattina
Tuo figlio ti ha abbracciata ancora

Your daughter returned this morning
Your son embraced you once again
Cyarwa cya nyarwaya
Your stories flow in the blood of my dear ones
Your roots are written in the lines of our hands
Cyarwa cya nyarwaya
You, the land of my grandfather
You, the heart of my grandmother
You, the home of my family
Far from you we have constructed
Far from you we have built
Other paths and other destinies
Other lives and other plans.
Cyarwa cya nyarwaya
Today we return
Today we replant
In the shadow of the eucalyptus we gather
You will tell us of your lives
We will fill in the void
You will tell us the secret of the hills
The bend of your lines
The scent of your flowers
The pain of your tears
The sweetness of your hours.
Cyarwa cya nyarwaya
Your daughter returned this morning
Your son embraced you once again.