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​​SOMOS EN ESCRITO
The Latino Literary Online Magazine

POETRY
​POESÍA

To the new season/A la nueva temporada

9/21/2018

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Poema/Poem

by/por Rafael Jesús González

Consejo para el Equinoccio Otoñal

​Andar en equilibrio no es fácil --
         pisar tan ligeramente
         que la hierba no se doble,
         pisar tan firmemente
         que nuestra huella señale
         el camino por la maleza.

En verdad nuestra naturaleza parece
ser sin balance,
         un pie pisando tan ligeramente
         el otro tan firme
                  que perdidos en el desierto
                  siempre caminamos en círculo.

Hay peores destinos; entonces
aprendamos a caminar el círculo en gozo.
Las estaciones voltean y vuelven
y no hay a donde ir;
         la Tierra es hogar suficiente;
         el camino, demasiado breve,
         a nada nos lleva.

         Para aprender a andar en balance
                  practica el baile.

                          
Advice for the Fall Equinox

Walking in balance is not easy --
         to step so lightly
         the grasses are not bent,
         to step so firmly
         one’s track points
         a way through the thicket.

Indeed it seems our nature to be
off balance,
         one foot stepping so lightly
         one so firmly
                  that lost in the desert
                  we always walk in a circle.

There are worse fates; let us then
learn to walk the circle in joy.
The seasons turn & return
one upon the other
& there is nowhere to go;
         the Earth is Home enough;
         the walk, all too brief,
         leads Nowhere.

         To learn to walk in balance
                  practice the dance.
Rafael Jesús González, named in 2018 the first poet laureate of Berkeley, California, where he resides, is an internationally known poet and social justice activist. (© Rafael Jesús González 2018. First printed /publicado primeramente in/en: Raven Chronicles, Vol. 25, 2017; author's copyrights/derechos reservados del autor.)
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Siendo honrado por la ciudad

2/17/2010

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Siendo honrado por la ciudad



By Rafael Jesús González

(on being honored by the City of Berkeley) 



Es cierto que es absurdo y hermoso

                        y maravilloso y ridículo

que la ciudad declare un día

                        en nombre de uno.

Pero, bueno, no es cosa chica

cuando ciudadanía de la ciudad

es la única ciudadanía de la cual

uno jamás se ha avergonzado.

Es difícil saber como celebrarlo;

            un amigo pregunta:

¿juntamos a mucha gente o pocas?

¿deberían ser alegres y escandalosas?

¿deberían ser solemnes y dulces?



No es poco penoso oír

la proclamación leída por el alcalde

en las cámaras del ayuntamiento llenas

de amigos, amigas sin quienes

            nada de lo por cual honran a uno

                        se pudiera haber hecho --

ni el arte,

            ni el enseñar y el aprender,

ni el activismo por la justicia y la paz,

por esta bendita Tierra que nos presenta

            con esta gloriosa noche de otoño.

Es asombroso al fin y al cabo

ser alabado por lo que se hace de corazón.





*          **        **        **        **        **        *



On Being Honored by the City



Certainly it is absurd & beautiful

                        & wonderful & silly

for the city to declare a day

                        in one’s name.

But, hey, it is no little thing

when citizenship of the town

is the one citizenship of which

one has never been ashamed.

It is hard to know how to celebrate it;

            a friend asks:

should we gather together many folk or few?

should they be jolly & loud?

should they be solemn & sweet?



It is not a little embarrassing to hear

the proclamation read by the mayor

in the Council Chambers filled

with friends without whom

            nothing that one is being honored for

                        could have been done --

not the art,

            not the teaching & learning,

not the activism for justice & peace,

for this holy Earth that presents us

            with this glorious autumn night.



            It is amazing, when all is said & done,

to be praised for what is done from the heart.



(riverbabble, número 16, invierno 2010; http://www.iceflow.com/riverbabble/Welcome.html;

derechos reservados del autor)
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