Poetry for Mother Earth

I missed April 22 because we had a literarily great anniversary to celebrate, but I would like to nod to my favorite Spanish poet, Manolo García, and present his "Sabrás que andar es un sencillo vaivén" with my humble interpretation in English to start off Translation Week. Here, García's love for nature comes through loud and clear.

Being born, living, faces full of longing,

with expressions eager for life.

I see it in the streets,

in stopped time.

We’re all living, growing, exposed to love.

Exposed to crying, to nostalgia,

to laughter and to pain.

Willing for every moment

that we love life.

Living to love,

a blowing breeze. Life.

Any form of life

in the pitched battle

in a world that will sink

if we don’t champion every life form

in nature.

If a paved-over, lifeless world fails to worry me.

I’ll find that walking, feeling,

is a simple rhythm.

And at times, leaving myself behind

will make my baggage lighter.

You’ll find that waking up

to that simple rhythm

is just breathing and letting yourself be carried away

by ducks migrating, by an apple tree

or by the grandiosity of an iceberg.

Being born, living. A sparkle, a detour. Life,

the pull of life.

I see it in people,

in the present time.

Celestial body, love of the campfire.

Exposed to damage, to treachery,

to enjoyment and to forgiveness.

Willing for every moment, hungry for life.

I’ll find that walking, feeling,

is slowing down, stopping.

And at times becoming detached, since in the end

pure air satisfies lungs and anxiety.

I’ll know that waking up

to that simple rhythm

is slow; it’s arriving at serene limits

in a whirl of butterflies, towards a fjord

or in the cobalt blue of a hurricane.