The shadow that covered us
has changed its branches
the lines of our hands are different
we have turned around
both of us knelt down before emptiness.
We only have memory: a murmur
grows until it becomes a dust cloud of my ribs
in the blood that made two butterfly wings from my nipples
in memory
a tear stopped for years
falls like leaves of the tree that lent us its coat
slowly in a swaying wave
crunches, scatters in the wind
turns into dust,
the murmur of time that doesn't return.
Where will I bury the ashes
of the shadow that silenced my lips for centuries?
____
Horizontes
La sombra que nos cubrió
ha cambiado sus ramas
las líneas de nuestras manos son distintas
hemos dado un vuelco
somos dos que se desploman al vació.
Sólo nos queda el recuerdo: murmullo
crece hasta ser tolvanera de mis costillas
en la sangre que hacía de mis pezones dos alas mariposas
y en memoria
una lágrima detenida por años
cae como las hojas del árbol que nos dio su abrigo
lenta en un vaivén de ola
cruje, se esparce por el viento
se hace polvo,
susurro del tiempo que no retorna.
¿Dónde enterraré las cenizas
de la sombra que enmudeció mis labios por siglos?
Author Bio:
Isolda Dosamantes was born in Tlaxcala, Mexico, in 1969. She is the author of several books of poetry, including Paisaje sobre la seda (2008) and Apuntes de viaje (2012), and Después del hambre (2017). In the US, Toshiya Kamei has published English translations of her poems in The Griffin, International Poetry Review, and Minnetonka Review, among others.
has changed its branches
the lines of our hands are different
we have turned around
both of us knelt down before emptiness.
We only have memory: a murmur
grows until it becomes a dust cloud of my ribs
in the blood that made two butterfly wings from my nipples
in memory
a tear stopped for years
falls like leaves of the tree that lent us its coat
slowly in a swaying wave
crunches, scatters in the wind
turns into dust,
the murmur of time that doesn't return.
Where will I bury the ashes
of the shadow that silenced my lips for centuries?
____
Horizontes
La sombra que nos cubrió
ha cambiado sus ramas
las líneas de nuestras manos son distintas
hemos dado un vuelco
somos dos que se desploman al vació.
Sólo nos queda el recuerdo: murmullo
crece hasta ser tolvanera de mis costillas
en la sangre que hacía de mis pezones dos alas mariposas
y en memoria
una lágrima detenida por años
cae como las hojas del árbol que nos dio su abrigo
lenta en un vaivén de ola
cruje, se esparce por el viento
se hace polvo,
susurro del tiempo que no retorna.
¿Dónde enterraré las cenizas
de la sombra que enmudeció mis labios por siglos?
Author Bio:
Isolda Dosamantes was born in Tlaxcala, Mexico, in 1969. She is the author of several books of poetry, including Paisaje sobre la seda (2008) and Apuntes de viaje (2012), and Después del hambre (2017). In the US, Toshiya Kamei has published English translations of her poems in The Griffin, International Poetry Review, and Minnetonka Review, among others.
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