Black Leopard, Red Wolf (The Dark Star Trilogy #1)

by Marlon James

The old man built a rhythm with his right fingers and a melody with his left. He cleared his throat. His voice came out higher than when he spoke. High like a cried alarm, still higher, with the top of his tongue clicking the top of his mouth to make rhythm. I it is who is speaking I am a southern griot We now few we was once all Hide in dark I come out of The wilderness, I come out of The cave, I come out and see I was looking for A lover I want get A lover I did lose Another I want get Time make every man a widow And every woman too Inside him Black like him Black that suck through the hole in the world And the biggest hole in the world Be the hole of loneliness The man lose him soul give it ’way For he was looking for A lover He want get A lover He did lose Another He want get A man when he eat like glutton Look like a man when he starve Tell me can you tell one from two You glutting by day Then you starving by night, yeah Look at you, fooling you You want find A lover You want get A lover You did lose Another You did lose A lover You did lose A lover You did lose Another You did lose Then he plucked the strings and let the kora alone speak, and I left before he sang more. I ran outside because I was a man, and string and song should never affect me so. Outside, where nothing could suck all the air out of one place. And where I could say it was wind that made my eyes wet, truth it was wind. Out on the rock the prefect stood, wind running past him, whipping his hair. The...