Poem
Jairo Guzmán
A DEAD FISH ON THE BEACH
You seem like a Buddhist monklistening to the gong of the galaxies
Were you perhaps once terrestrial
and the delirium of your ancestors’ woods
made you faint in this spot?
Perhaps you were a gazelle?
What thunderbolt will strike you when you become a bird?
You were drunk with the sun
and already it seemed to me a fish
getting suntanned on the beach was absurd
When you become a bird
big and blue-ish like the bird of solitude
I will listen to the psalm to joy
before the splendor that serves
in the amphora of the pelican
the wine of the white ray
Bird of the waters
your thirst of flowering honeysuckles and dandelions
was not sated
When you become a bird
on the branches of a guaiacum
grant me the key to the winds
© Translation: 2009, Nicolás Suescún
UN PEZ MUERTO EN LA PLAYA
UN PEZ MUERTO EN LA PLAYA
Pareces un monje budistaescuchando el gong de las galaxias
¿Será que alguna vez fuiste terrestre
y el delirio de boscaje de tus ancestros
te hizo desmayar en este paraje?
¿Acaso fuiste gacela?
¿Qué rayo te fulminará cuando seas ave?
Estabas ebrio de sol
y ya se me hacía absurdo
un pez bronceándose en la playa
Cuando seas un pájaro
grande y azulenco como el pájaro de la soledad
te escucharé la salmodia a la alegría
ante el esplendor que sirve
en la crátera del pelícano
el vino del rayo blanco
Pájaro de las aguas
tu sed de madreselvas y dientes de león florecidos
no fue saciada
Cuando seas ave
en el ramaje de un guayacán
concédeme la clave de los vientos
© 2002, Jairo Guzmán
From: Voces del entresueño
Publisher: First published on PIW,
From: Voces del entresueño
Publisher: First published on PIW,
Poems
Poems of Jairo Guzmán
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A DEAD FISH ON THE BEACH
You seem like a Buddhist monklistening to the gong of the galaxies
Were you perhaps once terrestrial
and the delirium of your ancestors’ woods
made you faint in this spot?
Perhaps you were a gazelle?
What thunderbolt will strike you when you become a bird?
You were drunk with the sun
and already it seemed to me a fish
getting suntanned on the beach was absurd
When you become a bird
big and blue-ish like the bird of solitude
I will listen to the psalm to joy
before the splendor that serves
in the amphora of the pelican
the wine of the white ray
Bird of the waters
your thirst of flowering honeysuckles and dandelions
was not sated
When you become a bird
on the branches of a guaiacum
grant me the key to the winds
© 2009, Nicolás Suescún
From: Voces del entresueño
From: Voces del entresueño
A DEAD FISH ON THE BEACH
You seem like a Buddhist monklistening to the gong of the galaxies
Were you perhaps once terrestrial
and the delirium of your ancestors’ woods
made you faint in this spot?
Perhaps you were a gazelle?
What thunderbolt will strike you when you become a bird?
You were drunk with the sun
and already it seemed to me a fish
getting suntanned on the beach was absurd
When you become a bird
big and blue-ish like the bird of solitude
I will listen to the psalm to joy
before the splendor that serves
in the amphora of the pelican
the wine of the white ray
Bird of the waters
your thirst of flowering honeysuckles and dandelions
was not sated
When you become a bird
on the branches of a guaiacum
grant me the key to the winds
© 2009, Nicolás Suescún
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