The sky is heavy and has fissured
Rain has washed the tomb
Turbulent waters are pouring out
Creating new water paths
From the tomb, a striking call came
To warn the people
Oh Kenza** my daughter
Do not weep
We have been sacrificed
For a new Algeria
Kenza, Oh my daughter
Do not weep
Even if the body wilts
The idea lives
Even if the times are hard
We will overcome weariness
Even if they shoot many stars,
The sky will never be stripped of all of its stars
Oh Kenza my daughter
Endure life's burden
We have been sacrificed
For a new Algeria
Kenza, Oh my daughter
Do not weep
They have decided on our fate
Well before today
The hunters of intelligence
Who have turned the country into a death zone
They have killed Rashid Tigziri
And did not miss Smail
They have killed Liabes and Flici
Boucebsi and many others
Oh Kenza my daughter
Endure life's burden
We have been sacrificed
For a new Algeria
Kenza, Oh my daughter
Do not weep
At least one of us will survive
He will be our memory tomorrow
The wounds will heal
Our country will be peaceful again
Our children will grow
Even amidst the violence and pain
Oh Kenza my daughter
Do not weep
We have been sacrificed
For a new Algeria
Kenza, Oh my daughter
Do not weep
Translated from the Tamazight
by Rabah Seffal
** Kenza is the oldest daughter of Tahar Djaout who was killed by Muslim
fundamentalists in 1993. Rachid Tigziri (Berber activist), Smail Yefsah (Berber TV journalist),
Laadi Flici (medical doctor and well known poet and playwright), Djillali Liabes (sociologist and
former minister of higher education), and Prof. Mahfoud Boucebsi (psychiatrist, who was also
involved in the care of abandoned children and unwed mothers) are among the intellectuals who
have fallen victim to the violence in Algeria.
| 
Poetry from The Literary Review