We present this work in honor of Colombian Independence Day.

 

Death could not beat me.
I battled and lived. The
restless body against the soul,
to the white flight of the day.

In the ruins of Troy I wrote:
“Everything is death or love”
and since then I had no
rest. I said in Rome:

“There are no gods, just time”
and since then I had no
redemption. I silenced myself in Spain,
since the voice of rage defied
forgetfulness with my marrow,
my humors, my blood; and
since then the fire
has not stopped.

May the foreign land
serve as a resting place
for the hero. May fresh grass
sing like a bee of the dust
by his eyelids. I do not surrender:
I want to live in war every day,
as if it were the last one.

My heart battles against the sea.

Translation by Dina Moscovici