GUILL ÉN, Nicolás



Rivers


With the Rhine, the Rhone, the Ebro,

my eyes are filled.

With the Tiber, the Thames,

the Volga, the Danube,

my eyes are filled.


But I know the Plata,

and I know the Amazon bathes.

But I know the Mississippi,

and I know the Magdalena bathes.

I know the Almendares,

and I know the San Lorenzo bathes.

I know the Orinoco,

I know they bathe

lands of bitter slime where my voice blooms,

and languid jungles chained by bloody roots.

America, I drink from your cup,

from your tin cup,

great rivers of tears!


Oh, leave me, leave me,

leave me now

…close to the water.



Madrigal


Your belly knows more than your head

and as much as your thighs.

That

is the strong grace

of your naked body.






Mujer nueva


Con el circulo del Ecuador

cenido a la cintura como a un pequeno mundo,

la negra, mujer nueva,

avanza en su ligera bata de serpiente.


Coronada de palmas

como una diosa recien llegada,

ella trae la palabra inedita...

el anca fuerte,

la voz, el diente, la mañana y el salto.


Chorro de sangre joven

bajo un pedazo de piel fresca,

y el pie incansable

para la pista profunda del tambor.


Agua del recuerdo

¿Cuándo fue?

No lo sé.

Agua del recuerdo

voy a navegar.


Pasó una mulata de oro,

y yo la miré al pasar:

moño de seda en la nuca,

bata de cristal,

niña de espalda reciente,

tacón de reciente andar.


Caña

(febril le dije en mí mismo),

caña

temblando sobre el abismo,

¿quién te empujará?

¿Qué cortador con su mocha

te cortará?

¿Qué ingenio con su trapiche

te molerá?



New Woman


With the equatorial circle

tied around her waist like a little world,

The Negress, the new woman,

comes forward in her airy serpent morning gown.


Crowned with palms

like a newly arrived goddess,

she brings unspoken words,

her solid loins,



Elegy to Emmett Till
















Un niño con su trompo

con sus amigos, con su barrio

con su camisa de Domingo

con su billete para el cine,

con su pupitre y su pizarra,

con su pomo de tinta,

con su guante de béisbol,

con su programa de boxeo

con su retrato de Lincoln

con su bandera norteamericana,

negro.


…..
now a fragile child

small flower of your banks

not yet a root of your trees

not yet a trunk in your forests

not a stone in your bed

not an alligator in your waters:

barely a child

a dead child, killed and only

Black.



A child with his spinning top

with his friends, with his neighborhood

with his Sunday best shirt

with his ticket for the movies,

with his school desk and slate,

with his bottle of ink,

with his baseball glove,

with his boxing program

with his portrait of Lincoln

with his American flag,

Black.