O lume
María do Cebreiro
Tirei o anel ao río. Algunhas cousas
son un peso morto. Fabricamos
obxectos de metal porque desconfiamos
da duración dos vínculos. Eu confiaba
na auga. Cría que levaría o anel
e o guiaría ata morte, máis escura
e constante do que a vida.
O río non foi quen de lavar nada.
Nin os recén nacidos poden nacer de novo
nin os resuscitados poden renacer.
Sentei onda a varanda. Unha beira
dicía: «O río que move as plantas
é o río que as afoga». A outra beira
dicía: «A vida ten espiñas pero un día,
de súpeto, aparece unha flor».
Un bautismo de lume é o que precisas.
Vida, terra queimada. Quero ser
como o lume e ver o lume arder.
Fire
translated by Jacob Rogers
I threw the ring into the river. Some things
are a dead weight. We make
metal objects because we lack faith
in the duration of bonds. I had faith in
water. I thought it would carry away the ring
and guide it to death, darker
and more consistent than life.
The river couldn’t clean away a thing.
There’s no being born again for the newborn,
just as there’s no rebirth for the resurrected.
I sat down on the bank. One side
said: “A river that shifts plants is
a river that drowns them.” The other side
said: “Life has spines but one day,
out of the blue, a flower will bloom.”
What you need is a baptism by fire.
Life, scorched earth. I want to be
like flame, I want to watch the fire burn.
about the author
