Et s’il faut plus encore pour accomplir la tâche,
L’on ira vers le but, jusqu’où l’on croit le voir;
Car tout cède à l’effort, rien n’appartient au lâche;
L’avenir est à ceux qui savent le vouloir! (41-44)This call to action may make this poem the last political poem Coicou authors. HenrockTrouillot in his study Les Origines sociales de la littérature haïtienne finds Impressions as a
collection rather uninteresting but declares that “Lui” announces a “Coicou des derniers jours,”
adding that this poem shows “le poète de la résurrection nationale dont le combat fut aussi
héroïque et glorieux que celui du héros sur le champ de bataille et dont tout l’être est tendu vers
la libération de son pays.”^315
4.7 CONCLUSION
There is no doubt that Coicou maintains an enduring legacy in Haitian letters and politicsat least in part because of his execution, and it is important to mention that Coicou’s
assassination had far-reaching implications on several fronts. Although Haitian newspapers,
censored by Nord Alexis, were noticeably quiet about those events, Coicou’s death provoked
outrage abroad. Haitian professor Roger Gaillard in Le Grand Fauve and Jolibois again in
L’Exécution both cite numerous articles from various foreign newspapers of the period.
According to Gaillard, mention of Coicou’s death was even found in manuscripts of
Apollinaire’s Le poète assassiné: when referencing the worldwide persecution of poets,
Apollinaire had noted “....le grand poète nègre d’Haïti avait été coupé en morceaux.”^316
(^315) Henock Trouillot, Les Origines sociaels de la littérature haïtienne (Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie N.A. Theordore,
1962) 74.
(^316) Gaillard 272.