Prière aux dieux de la pierre (fr – en)

Que mes pieds ne faiblissent
Que mes mains ne perdent
jamais leur prise
Que la hauteur de la paroi
Ne m'immobilisse
Ô mes bienfaiteurs tout puissants
Ne m'envoyez pas de route balisée
Mais la force d'ouvrir
Des frais chemins
Dans votre royaume, mon foyer
-:-
Tu seras poussière de rêves
Aux pieds d'une civilisation
Qu'aura tout oublié de nos souffrances
-:-
Lorsque je me perd et que le chemin s'arrête
Contre un mur vertical
Donnez-moi le courage de rêver une nouvelle route
Malgré mes jambes molles
Et cette solitude d'échos de roche

Prayer to the stone gods

May my feet do not weaken
May my hands never lose their grip
May the height of the wall does not immobilize me
O my almighty benefactors
Do not send me a marked route
But the strength to open
Fresh paths
In your kingdom, my home
-:-
You will be dust of dreams
At the feet of a civilization
Who will have forgotten all of our sufferings
-:-
When I get lost and the path ends
Against a vertical wall
Give me the courage to dream a new road
Despite my shivering legs
And this loneliness of rock echoes

Velorio (gl – en)

No día despóis da miña morte por desgraza só tiña un teclado inglés e puiden malamente contar o rebumbio de xentes que se apertaba no xardín dianteiro da casa familiar o mariscal repartira xenerosamente abondo alimento e bebidas quentes como para reunir arredor do vello forno dos avós un grupo de amigos a maioría dos cales descoñecidos de todo

na traseira da finca se dispuxeron toalhas onde fora recollido o sal do meu corpo ofrenda para a fauna do monte resignada ás dietas baixas en sódio 

así viñeran mesmo todas as amantes doídas as fogosas e tamén as esquecidas que deixaran a sua pegada no meu corpo agora mais ca nunca evanescente

Tamén dous nenos pequenos xogaban arredor dun carro de vacas xubilado alleos á dor que os agardaba tan semellantes eles coma meu irmán e máis eu cando eramos unidade 

A miña irmá con cara de enfado por non ter sido avisada con tempo da chegada da morte preto dela estaban arrimadas á roseira da esquina as minhas filhas de costas falando só entre elas queixándose das espiñas

Adentro comigo só ela e os dous compañeiros que como barcos destartalados navegaran na miña travesia mar e sal dos ollos ata o final dos días

Wake

On the day after my death unfortunately I only had an English keyboard and I could barely count the rumble of people who crowded into the front garden of the family home the marshal had generously distributed enough food and hot drinks to gather around my grandparents’ old oven a group of friends most of whom were strangers to me

at the back of the farm, towels were arranged where the salt from my body had been collected, an offering for the mountain fauna resigned to low-sodium diets

so all the hurt lovers came too, the fiery ones and also the forgotten ones who left their mark on my body now more than ever evanescent

Also two small children were playing around a retired cow cart oblivious to the pain that awaited them as alike as my brother and me when we were a unit

My sister with a face of anger for not having been warned in time of the arrival of death near her were close to the rose bush in the corner my daughters their backs turned talking only to each other complaining about the thorns

Inside with me only she and the two companions who, like dilapidated ships, had sailed on my journey, eyes´ sea and salt until the end of days

Cualidades humanas (gl – en)

Tras anos de toma de conciencia 
Demos mellorado a vida da galiña poñedora
Que por fin foi liberada da miserable gaiola
Somos empáticos e respetuosos
Somos a cada paso máis humanos

-/-

Crecen as úlceras nas granxas de anciáns
A medida que se incrementan as marxes de beneficio
O presidente sae sorrinte e favorecido
Nas fotos que se fai co granxeiro
No meu nano-país europeo, onde a Inspección
Roubou a intrínseca cualidade da xustiza
E o atributo capital da humanidade
Semella ser a cobiza

Human qualities

After years of awareness
We have improved the life of the laying hen
That was finally released from the miserable cage
We are empathetic and respectful
We are more human with every step

-/-

Ulcers grow on old people's farms
As profit margins increase
The president appears smiling and flattering
In the photos taken with the farmer
In my European nano-country, where the Inspection
Has stolen the intrinsic quality of justice
And the main attribute of humanity
It seems to be greed

Ao pé do río Gordale

Mantendo o equilibrio 
Sobre un áspero cordel de sisal
Cheguei ao pé da fervenza

Coas mans frías e os pes enxoitos
Sentei nunha pedra, pechei os ollos
Atendinlle á voz potente da auga

Que paseniño abriu
unha fiestra pequeniña

Por onde puiden ler o que o xiz da Vida
Levaba anos escribindo mentres eu
Inconsciente miraba a outro lado

Grazas á alta humidade ambiente
O resto dos camiñantes non se decatou
Do xúbilo que mollaba o meu rostro

Na beira do río Gordale

On the banks of Gordale Beck

Keeping the balance
on a rough sisal twine
I reached the foot of the waterfall

With cold hands and dry feet
I sat on a rock, closed my eyes
And listened to the powerful voice of the water

That gently opened
A small window

From where I could read what the life chalk
Had been writing for years while
Unconsciously I looked away

Thanks to the highly humid environment
The rest of the walkers didn't notice
The jubilation that wet my face

On the banks of Gordale Beck

Crueldade (gl – en)

Burlavámonos dos medos alleos
A burla era unha néboa mesta onde ocultar o nosos temores

Eramos pouca cousa, necesitabamos
- dun cabalo de raza
- ou un anel de ouro para ser valorados
- unha pulseira de pesos de prata
- un motor de centos de cabalos que soportase a levidade

Agora pasa o vento inocente entre a multitude que cobre a rua e sae
- pálido
- sen sangue
- ferido

Inocentemente
Mallabamos na diferencia ata conseguir
un caldo homoxéneo
Eramos galiñas, peteirabamos ao enfermo
ata que deixabamos de sufrir

Agora cubrimos de silencio a dor
E golpeamos cos ollos pechados
Ata que somos todos un
E deixamos de padecer

Cruelty

We made fun of other people's fears
The mockery was a mist to hide our terrors

We were of little relevance, we needed
- a thoroughbred horse
- or a gold ring for us to be valued
- a bracelet of silver pesos
- a car with hundreds of horsepower that supported the lightness

Now the innocent wind passes through the crowd that covers the street and leaves:
- pale
- without blood
- injured

Innocently
We punched the difference until we got it
a homogeneous broth
We were chickens, pecking at the sick
until we stopped suffering

Now we cover the pain with silence
And hit with our eyes closed
Until we are all one
And the suffering stops

O burato (gl – en)

Aquí, aquí mesmo 
Entre o rechouchío melódico que cobre o aire
E o voo do pétalo dunha flor de cerdeira
Que un ferreiriño atarefado fixo cair
Abríuse un burato por onde a alma
A miña alma exhausta, conectou de novo
coa terra

The hole

Here, right here
Between the melodic rejoicing noise of the birds that covers the air
And the flight of a cherry blossom petal
That a busy blue tit dropped
A hole was opened through which the soul
My exhausted soul, reconnected
with the earth

Terra de bosques (gl – en)

Retornado ao país atopo 
as copas das árbores que moldean
os lombos dos montes

Bosques mestos onde
agachados seguro tras os troncos
centenarios moran os poetas

O seu hábitat é esta espesura
e aínda que ando á procura
do cocho onde repousan

Só topo indícios
restos da sua presenza
nas paredes manchadas de versos

Cubrindoo todo un laio un canto
xorde nas polas dos rumorosos alcolitos
tono idóneo para a exploración
íntima das chairas da soidade

Land of forests


Returned to the country I find
the tops of the trees moulding
the backs of the mountains

Thick forests where
very likely crouched behind
centenarians trunks the poets live

Their habitat is this thicket
and even though I'm looking
for the lair where they rest

I only find clues
remains of their presence
on the walls stained with verses

Covering it all, a complaint, a song
arises in the branches
of the whispering eucalyptus trees
ideal tone for the intimate exploration
of the plains of solitude

Latin love (gl – en)

Entre os restos de pintura esconchada
e os anacos da louza escachada
atopamos por fin a espiña
que nos atravesara todos estes meses

os portazos e os berros afástanse
pesadelos febrís minguantes
só denso o bochorno se queda
e a mirada cambiada dos veciños

No cimeterio onde soterramos
os sete mil nomes da culpa
prégolle ao universo
ou a quen tiver as competencias
que as feridas non sexan fondas
e que cando o sangue comece a callar
a fin da guerra nos tope abrazados

Latin love

Among the remains of chipped paint
and the pieces of broken crockery
we finally found the thorn
that had pricked us all these months

the slamming doors and the screams go away
waning feverish nightmares
only the dense embarrassment remains
and the changed gaze of the neighbours

In the cemetery where we buried
the seven thousand names of guilt
I pray to the universe
or to whoever having the powers
for our wounds to be superficial
and, when the blood begins to curdle,
for the war's end to finds us embraced

Memórias de uma pedra (pt – en)

Memórias de uma pedra
de quando eu fui pedra
e os átomos seguravam-se pela mão
criando uma cadeia indestrutível
como a minha própria essência

Mesmo sendo puro mineral
tinha fraquezas, gostava
da carícia húmida da água
a me envolver a me fazer brilhar
a superfície com a luz do sol

Era pedra por fora e por dentro
íntegra na dureza nada saía
nem entrava - um ser perfeito
sem deformações nem fendas
mas sem competências de voo

Só a doce água era capaz
de me dar forma
com a sua eterna paciência

Memoirs of a stone

Memoirs of a stone
when I was stone
and the atoms held each other by the hand
creating an indestructible chain
like my very essence

Even though I was pure mineral
I had weaknesses, I liked
the wet caress of water
which wrapped me making shine
my surface with sunlight

I was stone outside and inside
intact in hardness nothing came out
nor entered - a perfect being
no deformations or cracks
but no flying skills

Only sweet water was capable
to shape me
with its eternal patience