In Memory of our Heroes

Aly Laurent

In memory of our heroes...
.....and the year is 1803.

The smell of blood, death and sweat is in the air.
Vertieres is engulfed in flames.

There goes Capois Lamort! Impassible and stoic,
oblivious to the bullets grazing his hat...
A second round of bullets mows down his horse!
Brave Capois.... valiant Capois gets right back
on his feet, brandishing his sword and clamoring:

"Grenadye a laso! Sa ki mouri zafè fout pa yo!

Silence...
It is the sound of drums calling for a respite.
It is Rochambeau, the man who has inflicted so
many casualties to European armies. Rochambeau,
the man in charge of "La septième flotte de Napoléon".
Never has he witnessed such bravery...
Capois Lamort has defied and cheated death,
Rochambeau had to congratulate him...

It is November 18th....
.... and the year is 1998.

Why is Capois crying?
Why is he rolling over in his grave?

Here comes the ghost of Dessalines...

Capois: Jean-Jacques? Did we die in vain? For nothing?

Dessalines: Who are these foreign soldiers?
What are they still doing here?
I also know they were here in 1915!
I thought we chased them ALL away in 1804...

Capois: Our sons did not inherit the blood of Ginen...
We must have taken the whole supply when we went back.
I wonder what Christophe, Boisrond, Petion,
and the others are saying...Are they crying too?

Dessalines: What else is there to do?

Here comes Toussaint...

He is still majestic and imposing...
He is the son of Zeus, the God of war...
he looks at his "frères d'armes", and
again pronounced his "paroles celèbres":

"On n'a abattu que le tronc
de l'arbre de la liberté de nos fils;
il repoussera par les racines, parce
qu'elles sont profondes et nombreuses."