You were shrouded but you didn't die
You were mourned yet you didn't vanish
_____
A sheet of paper and a pen soothe my insomniac ravings
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Far off in my exile, little country of the Great Lakes of Africa
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Remembering my life back before the war
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Toiling to recall my feelings with no repatriation
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Little country, I'm sending you this postcard
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My rose, my petal, my crystal, my homeland
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It's been so long, bougainvillea gardens
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Memories kept inside the dust of a folded book
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Under the sun, the tin roofs sparkle
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Farmers clear the land by setting twigs on fire
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You see, my life had started out well
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I'd like to start over from the beginning, but you know how it is
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And here we are lost in the streets of Saint-Denis
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Before we get senile we'll go live in Gisenyi
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We'll make the ground shake like the rumblings of our volcanoes
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So little country, when do we fly away far from war?
You were shrouded but you didn't die
You were mourned yet you didn't vanish
_____
Tiny piece of Africa perched up high
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I doubt my loves, you'll remain my certainty
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Reputation wrapped in a shroud
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Little country, for three months everyone left you alone
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I admit, I pled guilty to hating you
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When all the spotlights were turned toward Zaire
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We had to rebuild my little country on bones
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Mass graves and then our endless nightmares
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Little country, making you smile will be my redemption
_____
I'll give you my life, starting with this song
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Writing healed me when I was spiraling
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Just let me cry when that cursed month of April comes
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You taught me forgiveness so I could start anew
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Little country, in the shadows the devil keeps scheming
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You want to live despite the nightmares that haunt you
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I'm a seed of exile from the residue of a shooting star
You were shrouded but you didn't die
You were mourned yet you didn't vanish
_____
One bitter night, between suicide and murder
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I scribbled these few lines with the neutral tip of my felt pen
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I'm past the age of pamphlets and raising hell
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I know only love and the fear it'll go away
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I've dreamed too long of silence and northern lights
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By being too well-behaved, I hanged myself with my halo
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I scribbled texts to explain my sorrows
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Bujumbura, you're my firefly in my European wandering
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I was born long ago, one August
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And since then, in my head, it's doubt season every day
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I'm grieving and searching for a haven of peace
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When Africa turns into a corpse
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Eras die the way loves do
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Man, I don't sleep anymore, and I stand guard like a zamu
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Let me live, word of a misanthrope
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Name me just one dream that went all the way to its own end
You were shrouded but you didn't die
You were mourned yet you didn't vanish
_____
Little country, when you cry, I cry
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When you laugh, I laugh, when you die, I die
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Little country, I bleed from your wounds
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Little country, I love you, that I'm sure of
You were shrouded but you didn't die
You were mourned yet you didn't vanish
You were shrouded but you didn't die
You were mourned yet you didn't vanish