Poem and translation by Philip A. Rademaker, first published in “Bos di buriku”. Photos by Philip A. Rademaker as well.
Mi Lenga Papiamentu
Mi lenga t’e kabuya largu
ku ta mara bark’i mi spiritu
n’e waf pisá di realidat
i dun’é tòg basta brasa
p’e balia na su antoho
riba ol’i fantasia.
Mi lenga t’e kantika nobo
ku tur anochi mi ta drumi soña
pa su mainta mi por lanta kanta
su frasenan di anhelo di pena,
di rabia hundu i di goso hanchu,
di desepshon i fe.
Mi lenga ta esensia di mi tera
Mes duru k’e baranka di su kosta,
mes fini k’e spat’i awa ku ta mu’é,
kontentu manera kanto’i su chuchubi
i tristu maner’e solo ku ta baha
laga hende ku stim’é leu fo’i nan kas
Mi lenga ta koló di flor di anglo
i kayente meskos k’e tera kòrá
den kua lagadishi, nèkdo mané mi lenga
ta skirbi paskin ku su rabu
pa kaba, kore skonde den tranké di datu
ku si nan por a papia, l’a reda na mi lenga.
N’e leng’aki mi mama a nami lechi,
i ta n’e leng’aki mes m’a der’é
T’e mesun leng’aki a siña mi yunan
para riba nan pia, distingui
E leng’aki a siñami habri alma
Tin kos mas riku pa mi laga nan kuné?
My Language Papiamentu
My language is the long rope
That secures the ship of my spirit
To the stable dock of reality
And yet gives it enough slack
to dance as it desires
on the waves of imagination
My language is the song
That I dream to every night
so when I wake up I can sing
her verses of longing and suffering,
Of deep anger and wide delight,
Of faith and deception
My language is the essence of my land
As solid as the rocks that form its coast
As delicate as the drizzle that moistens its soil
Happy like the mockingbird’s song
And sad like each day’s sunset
longing for those far from home
My language is the color of the anglo flower
hot like red earth
upon which lizards, jokers like my language,
Write naughty letters with their tails
And run to hide in the cactus fence
if they could talk, they’d gossip in my language
I was fed this language at my mother’s breast
And I buried my mother in this very language
It is this language that has taught my children
To distinguish themselves and stand tall in life
This language taught me to open up my soul
Could I leave them anything more precious than that?
Fifi Rademaker.
Philip A. Rademaker also known as ‘Fifi Rademaker’ is an Otrobandista-turned-Westpuntero. He paints. He writes. He collects. He ponders the truth. He’s a yu di Kòrsou ’te den su higra’.
See also: #689. Mi Tera (My Land) by Philip A. Rademaker
1000 Awesome Things About Curaçao 
Hopi bunita Fifi,pero fuera di otrabandista nos ta Karnavalista te den nos higra
Hubert Pop
My name is Cheryl Rademaker Bernardi. My father’s father’s family is from Curaçao, though my father was born in Brooklyn, NY. It is my hope to learn more about my origins and about the family that I have never met.