Me, The Unrecognized Poet

My first post is about... my poetry, or rather lyrics. Totally unknown to the world. When I lived in Maldives between 1999 and 2001, I was running a small school for the performing arts, and I was in touch with a number of local musicians. That must have been an inspiration. There were also some "encounters" that helped my creativity. And there was always a tune floating around that made me forge the words in certain ways, me being a world music afficionado. Once settled in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the urge to write lyrics ceased as suddenly as it had arisen...
The first poem was in French, and has its own peculiar story, but read it first!

La fille de Malé

La lune qui se lève
sur l'île de Malé,
c'est la même lune qui
sur tout le monde se lève;
c'est la même lune qui

Mais la lune de Malé
a une couleur profonde,
qui n'existe pas du tout
dans d'autres parts du monde;
qui n'existe pas du tout
dans d'autres parts du monde.

C'est la lune d'une belle fille,
la lune de mon amour.

Et la peau qui se trouve
sur les corps de Malé,
c'est la même peau qui couvre
toutes les femmes du monde;
c'est la même peau qui couvre
toutes les femmes du monde.

Mais la peau de ma chérie
à une couleur profonde,
qui n'existe pas du tout
chez des autres femmes du monde;
qui n'existe pas du tout
chez des autres femmes du monde.

C'est la peau d'une belle fille,
le drapeau de mon amour.

If you are not familiar with French, try my English translation or adaptation, which I did some time later. Unfortunately, it does not have that poetic touch carried in the French original:

Girl from Malé

The moon that is arising
on the island of Malé
it is just the same moon, which
in all the world arises;
it is just the same moon, which
in all the world arises.

But the moon shine of Malé
has a very deep deep color
which does not exist at all
in other parts of the world;
which does not exist at all
in other parts of the world.

It's the moon of a beauty,
the moon of my one love.

And the skin which you find on
the women of Malé,
it is the same that covers
all the women in this world;
it is the same that covers
all the women in this world.

But the skin of my beloved
has a deep deep color
which does not exist at all
on other girls in the world;
which does not exist at all
on other girls in the world.

It's the skin of a beauty,
the linen for my love.

Gilberto Gil, the famous Brazilian musician (now minister of culture in his country!), wrote one only song in French, in honor of the millions of slaves that were shipped from Africa to the Americas. Most of them were first brought to the island of Gorée, off the coast of Senegal, from where they were packed into ships like sardines. Gil sees himself as a descendant of these slaves. The song is simple and beautiful and is called "Ile de Gorée" (Island of Gorée). If you try to download it on the net (which I did many times), you will be unsuccessful. If you are, let me know! The song was published in its original form on one of Gil's many CDs, which also seems to be off the market... mysterious. I forgot the name of the CD in the meantime. I was a proud owner, but the CD vanished in Malé, as have a few other favorite CDs of mine. My French lyrics are very close to the song lyrics, with just a few changes (e.g. Malé for Gorée, etc.). So I owe him tribute. Let's say, if someone turns this into a hit...
As to the other sources inspiration, I will be discreet at this point. However, my French adaptation was worked over by a French teacher from La Réunion, who lived in Malé at that time and had done some other translation work for me. I had mentioned the poem in a conversation to her, and had then mailed it to her without further comment, for editing. She must have forgotton the context, and took it as my attempt to make advances at her! Of course I had to correct the situation, after which she gave some helpful hints.
Depending on the response, I will post more lyrics and will invite musicians to turn them into songs!