Poem
Gabriel Jaime Franco
THE CLEFT VOICES (FRAGMENT X)
Dark was the house, and dirty.But we never thought of leaving for our own sake
before starting the cleaning and the search for light.
And everything broke into fragments.
Some did not need many procedures,
for they were at home, and they liked it,
with its sliding doors and the car on the move,
and they only had to drift back to themselves,
for their conscience was clear,
satisfied, rotten in its calm.
Others thought that life was only routine,
and they loved the street corners, their fraternal murmur,
the socks on the floor,
the sound of the cutlery on the set table,
the bad breath, the aunts’ hugs.
Others left, despairing,
clear-thinking but haughty,
trusting in forgetfulness,
not knowing that with them they themselves also left:
the mother of their shadows.
© Translation: 2004, Nicolás Suescún
Las voces escindidas (fragmento X)
Las voces escindidas (fragmento X)
Oscura estaba la casa, y sucia.Pero jamás se nos ocurrió ir por nosotros
antes de emprender la limpieza y la búsqueda de luz.
Y todo se fragmentó.
Algunos no necesitaron mucho trámite,
pues estaban en su casa, y les gustaba,
con sus rieles construidos y el coche en movimiento,
y no tenían que derivar siquiera hacia sí mismos,
pues su conciencia estaba tranquila,
satisfecha, podrida de quietud.
Otros pensaron que la vida no era más que cotidiana,
y amaron las esquinas, su rumor fraterno,
las medias en el piso,
el sonido de cubiertos en la mesa dispuesta,
el mal aliento, los abrazos de las tías.
Otros se marcharon, desesperanzados,
lúcidos pero soberbios,
confiando en el olvido,
ignorando que con ellos se marchaban también ellos:
la madre de sus sombras.
© 1998, Gabriel Jaime Franco
From: Las Voces Escindidas
Publisher: Unpublished, Medellín
From: Las Voces Escindidas
Publisher: Unpublished, Medellín
Poems
Poems of Gabriel Jaime Franco
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THE CLEFT VOICES (FRAGMENT X)
Dark was the house, and dirty.But we never thought of leaving for our own sake
before starting the cleaning and the search for light.
And everything broke into fragments.
Some did not need many procedures,
for they were at home, and they liked it,
with its sliding doors and the car on the move,
and they only had to drift back to themselves,
for their conscience was clear,
satisfied, rotten in its calm.
Others thought that life was only routine,
and they loved the street corners, their fraternal murmur,
the socks on the floor,
the sound of the cutlery on the set table,
the bad breath, the aunts’ hugs.
Others left, despairing,
clear-thinking but haughty,
trusting in forgetfulness,
not knowing that with them they themselves also left:
the mother of their shadows.
© 2004, Nicolás Suescún
From: Las Voces Escindidas
From: Las Voces Escindidas
THE CLEFT VOICES (FRAGMENT X)
Dark was the house, and dirty.But we never thought of leaving for our own sake
before starting the cleaning and the search for light.
And everything broke into fragments.
Some did not need many procedures,
for they were at home, and they liked it,
with its sliding doors and the car on the move,
and they only had to drift back to themselves,
for their conscience was clear,
satisfied, rotten in its calm.
Others thought that life was only routine,
and they loved the street corners, their fraternal murmur,
the socks on the floor,
the sound of the cutlery on the set table,
the bad breath, the aunts’ hugs.
Others left, despairing,
clear-thinking but haughty,
trusting in forgetfulness,
not knowing that with them they themselves also left:
the mother of their shadows.
© 2004, Nicolás Suescún
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