Where The Pieces Fall

Painting By Hugo Consuegra

Caminante Sin Lunas

Tu en la palabra
(You, inside the verse)
Here, hidden in verse,
behind the door that defines
your essence,
I traverse your landscape
of hills and valleys,
of coves and rivers,
of palm trees and ceiba trees,
of doves without light.

And, with the foam of the sea
and blue embraces of
seagulls and memories,
I envelope your mountainous waist,
your coral thighs.

I cross the paths of
ancient cathedrals,
down sad alleyways
with empty carriages containing
neither passengers nor drivers,
past weeping poplars,
unadorned gray arches,
silent palm trees,
without a breeze or a sound.

Silence has gone
with its cloak of darkness;
the perfume of legend and mystery
that surrounded your countenance
has been stolen:
the slave laughs while his sorrow weeps
to the steps of an ancestral dance,
impatiently desiring for history
to return with its triumphal march.

Meanwhile, hidden,
sheltered by verse,
I embark on the long
journey of exile and remembrance,
searching for the word that is
incessantly out of my reach,
the word that allows me to recreate
you once again.
_____________________________________

Poder del ensueño
(The Power of dreams)
I rediscover myself
in verse bearing your name,
dreaming of you
in each moment of clarity.
_____________________________________

Ausencia y soledad
(Absence and Solitude)
In the shadow of remembrance
the birds of memory sleep:
broken-winged-trills at
the shores edge,
drifting away in a sea without waves.

Even the fish do not come to the shore
and the wandering wind,
distances itself silently
without leaving a trace in the sand.

Up above, a seagull waves
goodbye to the horizon
as the waning afternoon, drenched
in blood, slowly collapses
behind the slopes, while
the shadows arrive in an
immense gray procession of penitents,
to rest on the shoulders of my anguish.

Oh, solitude,
virgin without yearning!
listen to my silent cry,
while I remain alone, one
among the shadows.
____________________________________

El poder del recuerdo
(The Power of Memory)
I no longer reside in the darkness
of your being,
that escapes in silent embraces.
But here, in the core of my being,
I jealously possess you,
with the green envy of remembrance.
____________________________________

El camino del destierro
(The Road of Exile)
On the path of the forgotten,
death comes to nostalgia,
funeral services for remembrance.

Each step is a beat of silence,
that sorrow repeats like an echo:
solitude swings in the balustrades.

In the hills a brightly lit star,
-the pilgrims beacon.
The traveler takes fewer steps
while anguish waits around
every corner.
____________________________________

Sabiduria
(Wisdom)
They will summon you
to the edge of oblivion.
Better to ignore the words
of those who don’t understand.
To be true to oneself,
be yourself and rediscover
yourself in verse and with
an embrace.
____________________________________

Recordar es regreso
(Remembering is returning)
Wanderer of time:
the past is the present
fixed in words;
the roots are never lost,
neither diminished nor augmented.
All that is needed is a pound on the chest
Or a kiss from the breeze;
remembering is returning
without borders or time.

Poems By Julio Enrique Hernandez-Miyares
Translations By Dennis Aberle