Visita á cidade natal

Voltei á escola trinta anos despois 

aparquei lonxe 

entre as naves industriais da beiramar

camiñei rodeado polos olores das navieiras 

e os sons do estaleiro 

Non conseguín o certificado que precisaba

nin sentín nostalxia daqueles tempos

*

Había uns versos de Olga Novo 

na parede dunha multinacional 

logo, no centro, a rúa do Príncipe 

cargada xa de Nadal prematuro 

tiña poemas grabados sobre o chan 

como unha metáfora desta cidade obreira 

de aceiro e granito, de barcos e automóbiles

sustentada na lírica galega 

*

a nosa língua acadou xa a sua minoría oficial 

cada vez máis, só útil como adorno 

*

Hoxe agóbiame ese mar 

que nunca chegarei a coñecer a fondo

decátome de novo que a exploración primeira está no interior 

consulto o número de neuronas que hai nun humano adulto

por ver se o cerebro podería ser máis diverso que o océano

o mar lévame a outro tempo no que estaba perdido 

non me gusta que me mostre antigos defectos

Lévaos de volta ao fondo!

Foran tempos tristes, de soidades fondas

*

Visit to my hometown

I went back to school thirty years later

parked far away

among the industrial buildings on the waterfront

I walked surrounded by the smells of the workshops

and the sounds of the shipyard

I didn’t get the certificate I needed 

nor did I feel nostalgic for those times

*

There were some verses by Olga Novo 

on the wall of a multinational company

Then, in the city centre, the Príncipe Street 

already loaded with premature Christmas

had poems engraved on the floor

As a metaphor for this working-class city 

of steel and granite, of ships and automobiles

Sustained by Galician lyricism

*

Our language, has now reached its official minority 

increasingly, only serves as an ornament 

*

That sea I’ll never get to know in depth 

today it weighs on me

 I realize again that the first exploration is inside

I look up the number of neurons in an adult human

To see if the brain could be more diverse than the ocean

The sea takes me to another time in which I was lost

I don’t like it showing me old flaws

Take them back to the bottom!

Those were sad times, of deep solitudes

In the 5 to 14 year old group, only 16.19% speak Galician always or more than Spanish. In 2003, the corresponding percentage was 43.33%.

Agora ou nunca, H. Monteagudo, 11/10/2024