A poder de manter cada cousa no seu sitio
Exercendo sempre a presión xusta
Para que o mundo fragmentado non se esboroe
Tornouse o teu universo en cristal liso
— O noso universo! —
Fráxil superficie vulnerable ás xeadas
O outono déixanos as flores orfas
Litany of the Flowers on your Absence
By keeping everything in its place
Applying just the right amount of pressure
So that the fragmented world would not collapse
Your universe became smooth glass
— Our universe! —
A fragile surface, vulnerable to frost
Autumn leaves our flowers orphaned
Camuflaje (es – en)
Hoy me abro
Me rompo vacilante
Y en medio de este desorden
De bolsas de plástico hinchadas de trastos viejos,
De cantos amarillentos de libros cubiertos de polvo
De toda esta basura de la que imparable
Se va rodeando la vida
Encuentro brillantes y hermosas mis más puras emociones
Que abandonadas por mi cobardía
Encontraron refugio camuflándose
En medio de este vilipendiado caos
Camuflage
Today I open up
I break, hesitantly
And in the midst of this disorder,
Of plastic bags swollen with old junk,
Of yellowed, dust-covered book edges
Of all this rubbish with which, relentlessly,
Life goes on surrounding itself,
I find my purest emotions bright and beautiful,
Which, abandoned through my cowardice,
Found refuge by camouflaging themselves
Amidst this vilified chaos.
Epifanía – Epiphany
Epifanía
a pel tua a agardar
pola pel miña
Epiphany divine
your skin longing for
the skin of mine
Nueva identidad (es – en)
Había cortado las venas
escapado a una vida nueva
nueva identidad en un distante territorio
desde cero levantaba una casa
hecha de músculos
y velas hinchadas por el deseo
mi camiseta de asas blanca,
mientras amasaba el hormigón,
era la bandera de mi patria
su himno el roce de la grava
contra el metal de la pala
del sudor nacian oceanos
y el dolor físico amortizaba
una deuda desconocida
rodeado de este frenesí
vivía protegido y feliz
dormía rendido cada noche
y no soñaba
ni siquiera lograba imaginar
que un día volvería
reptando, lenta
a alcanzarme la culpa
New identity
I had cut my veins
escaped into a new life
a new identity in a distant land
from scratch, I was building a house
made of muscle
and sails swollen with desire
my white vest
as I mixed the concrete
was the flag of my homeland
its anthem, the scrape of gravel
against the metal of the shovel
from sweat, oceans were born
and physical pain softened
an unknown debt
surrounded by this frenzy
I lived protected and happy
I slept exhausted every night
and did not dream
I could not even imagine
that one day it would come
creeping back to find me,
guilt
Tralas ruínas (gl en)
desapareceron
nunha sima fonda
as ruínas silenciosas
e pestilentes da guerra
abriuse unha superfície
palpitante de propósitos
na que, tras mudar
a pel reseca de alertas
meu corpo descóbrese
portador dunha gracia louzá
un apendice da tona terrestre
sensíbel e consciente
gozando en cada poro
en cada remota horta
o nacemento da sensualidade
asistida:
• dunha brisa morna
• do murmurio das follas
que o outono torna axóuxeres
• mesmo da contemplación
dun lector solitario
Beyond the Ruins
They disappeared
into a deep chasm
the silent and pestilent
ruins of war
A surface opened up
pulsating with purpose
on which, after shedding
the dry skin of alertness
my body discovers itself
the bearer of a glowing grace
an appendage of the earth’s crust,
sensitive and aware,
rejoicing in every pore,
in every distant orchard,
in the birth of sensuality,
attended by:
a warm breeze
the whisper of leaves
that autumn turns into little bells
even the contemplation
of a solitary reader
Maneiras de respirar (gl – en)
Estes días nos que o espectaculo das follas
Compensa pola chegada do frío
Síntome como un neno que descobre a respiración polos pes
Xusto no instante no que comezaba asomar o desencanto
Das carreiras sen obxecto arredor das árbores
E aí nese preciso instante acepta o seu destino
E comeza paseniño a converterse el mesmo en árbore
Xeneroso soporte e abraiante filtro da luz solar
Ways of Breathing
In these days when the spectacle of the leaves
makes up for the coming cold
I feel like a child discovering how to breathe through his feet
just as disenchantment begins to emerge
from his aimless races around the trees
And there, at that very moment, he accepts his fate
and begins, ever so slowly, to turn into a tree himself
a generous support, a wondrous filter for the sunlight
Invariábel mundo (gl – en)
Hai noites de versos atrapados
Epopeas de salvar o mundo
Servilleta de papel enrugada
E o mundo que seguiu indiferente
Sen alterar o seu rumbo
Quedo eu só, como ósos de dinosauro
Co único súper poder de inundar
O mundo coas miñas bágoas
Quizais así lle naza un novo océano
A este invariábel mundo
E sobre o oceano un barco
E sobre o barco un outro eu
Que termando firme do temón
Navegue de novo a tona das augas
Até arribar á illa Esperanza
An Unchanging World
There are nights of trapped verses
epics of saving the world
a crumpled paper napkin
and the world that carried on indifferent
without changing course
I am left alone, like dinosaur bones
with the sole superpower of flooding
the world with my tears
perhaps that way a new ocean
might be born in this unchanging world
and upon the ocean, a ship
and aboard the ship, another me
who, gripping the helm firmly
sails once more across the water’s surface
until making landfall on the island of Hope
Liñas rectas e outras dimensións (gl – en)
A mañá encountrome vestido de escamas:
por dentro era todo de espiñas duras
e ósos secos
sendo esta austeridade propicia
á destilación dos moi anhelados,
e tan cartesianos, versos
Sobre o céspede de dez días
que o outono orballara de estrelas
respirando o aire fresco de doce graos
enterrei os pés espidos na moqueta verde
cada paso húmido camiño do composteiro
caricia de herbas tenras que espertou
un animal de sangue e esmeraldas
que me arrastrou a novas dimensións
onde os sentidos sustituiron ás rectas
Straight lines and other dimensions
The morning found me dressed in scales:
inside, I was all hard thorns
and dry bones,
this austerity being conducive
to the distillation of those longed-for,
so Cartesian, lines of verse.
Over the ten-day-old lawn,
which autumn had sprinkled with stars,
breathing the fresh air at twelve degrees,
I buried my bare feet on the green carpet.
Each damp step towards the compost heap,
a caress of tender grasses that awoke
an animal of blood and emeralds,
which dragged me into new dimensions
where the senses took the place of straight lines.
Correspondencia sensitiva (gl – en)
Na penumbra, entre ramiñas de tomiño
chóvenme sobre a pel espectante
as notas do piano, o canto do paxaro
o aire da primavera que acariña
suave un corpo de ávidos sentidos
deixándose invadir pola poderosa vida
nunha chuvia de letras a miña pel absorbe
o delirio desmedido dos embriagadores trilos
saborea a resonancia das cordas percutidas
alimentase da luz que abrolla desta escena
a escrita tan sensual, tan irmá da miña
envolve de seda o meu corpo espido
Sensitive Correspondence
In the half-light, among sprigs of thyme,
notes from the piano, birdsong,
the spring air softly caressing
a body, alive with eager senses,
wash over an expectant skin,
surrendering to the power of life.
In a rain of letters, my skin absorbs
the unbridled delirium of intoxicating trills,
savours the resonance of struck strings,
feeds on the light welling up from this scene.
The writing, so sensual, so akin to my own,
wraps my naked body in silk.
L’Œuvre au noir (gl – en)
Cando tralas chuvias intensas
(desprazaran o aire da cidade)
un raio de sol, apartando as nubes
ven rozar os trofeos esquencidos
faime dubidar se serei eu
o auténtico fillo de Deus
Por sorte, esta carga ameazante
logo escapa dos ombreiros
cando as presións atmosféricas
compactan de novo o ceo
e podo seguir na penumbra
a recoller cristais rotos
L’Œuvre au noir
When, after the heavy rains
(had driven the city’s air away)
a ray of sunlight, parting the clouds,
comes brushing against the forgotten trophies,
it makes me wonder whether I might be
the true son of God.
Luckily, this threatening burden
soon slips from my shoulders
when atmospheric pressure
compacts the sky once more
and I can carry on in the half-light,
picking up broken glass.
