shifts to the heroes of the Revolution. Finally, the poet speaks to Haiti’s present-day citizens
who must face Haiti’s current battles in order to preserve past ideals:
Et fils de ces hommes sublimes
Ne pouvant pas, faibles aiglons,
Franchir comme eux les hautes cimes,
Ne restons pas dans nos vallons!
Il est encore d’autres batailles
Qui sont mieux faites pour nos tailles. (63-68)The stark contrast in stature between revolutionary heroes and Haiti’s present-daycitizens towers over Haitian ambitions in both negative and positive ways. The Haitian
Revolution, because of its magnitude, one which Haitian writers repeatedly contemplated,
overshadows other struggles and haunts later generations by sheer virtue of the fact that it cannot
be duplicated. There is nonetheless urgency to act and engage in the smaller battles of the
current time period. The way to preserve and honor revolutionary ideals is through present
action. In the original version of “La mort de nos cocotiers” an appeal is also made for a
different type of tree, an “arbre saint de progress” and “les choses utiles” to remedy this current
sickness. Specifically, the verses below call on Haiti’s engagement in the international
community and a cessation of prejudice which has hindered Haiti’s development. These verses,
in Durand’s original 1896 edition, are rarely included in anthology versions of the poem:
Quand nous aurons ouvert pour la franche accolade
Nos bras longtemps fermés aux étrangers, aux blancs; ...
Quand les vieux préjugés, la haine de l’esclave
Pour le maître, fuiront devant l’égalité ...(107-108,111-112)Dessalines had effectively eliminated the white presence on the island following hisdeclaration of independence, reinforcing Haiti’s claim as an exclusively “black” republic. Since
then, Haiti witnessed numerous debates on the long-standing prohibition of foreign ownership of
land. While it would be misleading to see these verses as an endorsement of greater foreign