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8.Cereqraq u eraqraq
Shining and exploding

Each Amazigh person today is taking a different direction. Some are taking the east; the others the west. Some leave our homeland and then blame others for not respecting the Tamazight language and Amazigh culture. We must change ourselves, not blame others for our lack of freedom. We must do our own work for our culture.

Shining and exploding
Somebody took east; another took west
It happened to us like this insect
Appearing only on sunny days

The separation is excruciating
Like the bird who has his throat cut
The separation weighs on us
Like a heavy burden
The separation is anguish
Like a closed tomb

Shining and exploding
Since the past, we were hanging in midair
It was as if we were a ball
Thrown from one hand to another.

We exiled ourselves from the country

Now they can find themselves

Somebody died. Another exiled
This is how the fighters like it
But us, we invest in poetry
This is the only thing we have

Shining and exploding
We were stricken in our hearts
Because we did not make the right decision.
Our unity has exploded

Shining and exploding
Somebody took east, one to the west
Shining and exploding
Going your own way
Shining and exploding
Complain all you want
Shining and exploding
We were strangled with our own hands

9-Tabexsist
(Purple Fig)

This poem speaks of the prohibitions on Amazigh society; the lawmakers can break their own laws while others are punished heavily.

The Kabylia region of Algeria is known for its figs. According to ancient rituals, the trees are blessed each spring with a garland of good figs from a previous harvest. No one may eat the figs until the authorities deem it harvest time and remove the garlands in August. In this poem, El Hadj refers to the title given to Muslem devotees who have been to Mecca and who know Islamic law. They are usually the officials who enforce the prohibition against eating figs.

Purple Fig

Oh purple fig
Because of you I am a wanted man
Oh purple fig
Because of you
There is a price on my head
The village has become angry

As soon as your fruit appears
The prohibition is imposed
No one may eat of you

The villagers are against me
The law, I have violated
They proclaim their sentence
I must leave

Like Adam, driven out of Heaven
And forced to descend to the Earth
Because of the apple he has eaten

There are those who impose the prohibition
But it does not apply to them
Never mind, everyone overlooks it
El Hadj merely caressed one of you

Me, I did not kill anyone
I only ate one of you
Why is it that they can partake of you figs
But not I?

This is not a piece of fiction.
This is a true story.