Mais tel le nautonier, quand la mer se déchaîne,
Je monte à la vigie et préviens le danger. (61-64)The rhyming words of étranger and danger reveal the menacing qualities the poetassociates with almost any foreign power. His warnings largely have to do with the ceding of
Haitian territory, and in this way he does not necessarily target one country differently from the
rest. Linking the greatest threats to Haiti across time and space, he says, “Pas plus qu’à
l’Amérique et pas plus qu’à la France, /Ne cédons à personne un pouce de nos droits!” As
another poem “Cauchemar” demonstrates, the “foreign” presence refers to any outside
dominance which is insulting to the idea of Haitian national viability. The poem “Cauchemar”
begins thus:
L’étranger insulteur: voilà mon cauchemar
Oui, la Force, agitant son farouche étendard
Voulant que la Justice à ses pieds s’humilie,
Pour ne se redresser que souillée, avilie. (1-4)The word choice and word order of these first two words are not conventional;syntactically, insulteur reads as an adjective, but given that this term is normally designated as a
noun, the phrase stresses a double and essentialist identity in the synonymous association of
insulter and foreigner. Again, the culprit is not any nation per se but is rather any “Force” which
denies Haitian sovereignty and suppresses the idea of “Justice” itself. Coicou raises the stakes
by warning about the “foreigner” both literally and allegorically. The pretext to foreign
aggression is usually rooted in financial gain, and the use of strength is at the expense of
freedom.
Il vous faut de l’argent, et vous voici! Qu’importe
Le prétexte, pourvu qu’on vous ouvre la porte...
La force est votre droit, et le droit est notre crime. (11-13)