Poem
Juan Manuel Roca
A Visit from No One
The rattle of the windowWith the August winds
Is the music of No One.
When the air comes into the house
Like a puff from a genius
And the papers fly
And the doors are drumming,
One expects the presence of Someone.
But Someone doesn’t come.
It is No One who brings
Abducted smells from kitchens nearby,
Rumours from the curtains’ skirts,
Uncertain reasons.
The bedroom door
Opens like a solitary flower
Repeating the trick:
Someone doesn’t appear,
For the visitor is No One.
The proof of his passing through,
His visiting card
Is there in the leaves of the orange tree
That looks through the window,
In the newspaper that flies,
In the portraits askew.
The wind always announces
The coming of No One.
© Translation: 2008, Julie Wark
UNA VISITA DE NADIE
UNA VISITA DE NADIE
El tastaseo de la ventanaCon los vientos de agosto
Es la música de Nadie.
Cuando el aire entra a casa
Como el soplo de un genio
Y vuelan los papeles
Y las puertas tamborilean,
Uno espera la presencia de Alguien.
Pero Alguien no llega,
Es Nadie el que trae
Olores raptados de cocinas cercanas,
Rumores del faldón de las cortinas,
Inciertas razones.
La puerta de la alcoba
Se abre como flor solitaria
Repitiendo el trucaje:
No aparece Alguien,
Es Nadie el visitante.
La prueba de su paso,
Su tarjeta de visita,
Está en las hojas del naranjo
Que asoma a la ventana,
En el periódico que vuela,
En ladeados retratos.
El viento siempre anuncia
La llegada de Nadie.
© 2005, Juan Manuel Roca
From: Las hipótesis de nadie
Publisher: Colección de poesía Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá
This poem is published here because it was specially selected by Juan Manuel Roca to be read at the Poetry International Festival Rotterdam 2008.
From: Las hipótesis de nadie
Publisher: Colección de poesía Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá
Poems
Poems of Juan Manuel Roca
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A Visit from No One
The rattle of the windowWith the August winds
Is the music of No One.
When the air comes into the house
Like a puff from a genius
And the papers fly
And the doors are drumming,
One expects the presence of Someone.
But Someone doesn’t come.
It is No One who brings
Abducted smells from kitchens nearby,
Rumours from the curtains’ skirts,
Uncertain reasons.
The bedroom door
Opens like a solitary flower
Repeating the trick:
Someone doesn’t appear,
For the visitor is No One.
The proof of his passing through,
His visiting card
Is there in the leaves of the orange tree
That looks through the window,
In the newspaper that flies,
In the portraits askew.
The wind always announces
The coming of No One.
© 2008, Julie Wark
From: Las hipótesis de nadie
This poem is published here because it was specially selected by Juan Manuel Roca to be read at the Poetry International Festival Rotterdam 2008.
From: Las hipótesis de nadie
A Visit from No One
The rattle of the windowWith the August winds
Is the music of No One.
When the air comes into the house
Like a puff from a genius
And the papers fly
And the doors are drumming,
One expects the presence of Someone.
But Someone doesn’t come.
It is No One who brings
Abducted smells from kitchens nearby,
Rumours from the curtains’ skirts,
Uncertain reasons.
The bedroom door
Opens like a solitary flower
Repeating the trick:
Someone doesn’t appear,
For the visitor is No One.
The proof of his passing through,
His visiting card
Is there in the leaves of the orange tree
That looks through the window,
In the newspaper that flies,
In the portraits askew.
The wind always announces
The coming of No One.
© 2008, Julie Wark
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