Welcome 2014 with Manolo García

Note: Starting January 4, I'm participating in the Clear Your Shelf Giveaway Hop. Five prizes will be up for grabs, so stop by and check it out.

"One Year After Another" by Manolo García
English translation by Jessica Knauss
from Los días intactos (2011)

One day I realized searching

was what kept me awake.

Without a trace of treasures,

without finding answers,

in the happy morning light.

January came and went

the way a traffic light changes

on those confounded highways

where I sometimes still feel

like a donkey tied at the entrance to the dance.

New years came and passed by,

Like the lives of monks in monasteries.

One year and another, so much time,

so many August moons that pass by.

A hot wind came from the south,

the deepest south,

and in it, you came, intensifying.

One year and another.

One day I realized searching 

was what kept me awake.

Without a certain reward

asking myself questions

while dusting my own buttresses.

A wind blew from the south.

You came inside it with your heat

and your Gypsy talk.

You came joyfully in a puff

to this pile of trash

where we sometimes bog ourselves down.

You came inside a light.

Days are bullets and when you yearn to head for the horizon

you're already ploughing the deep blue.

One year and another, so much time,

so many August moons that pass by.

A hot wind came from the south,

and in it, you came, and you came yearning.

One year and another, so much time,

so many August moons that pass by.

One year and another, so much time.

A hot wind came from the south

from the deepest south,

And in it you came intensifying,

desiring new horizons.

One year and another.

Note: "Like a Donkey Tied at the Entrance of the Dance" is the title of one of Manolo García's biggest hits with his former group, El Último de la Fila.

Note: We're finally leaving the hotel! After nearly eight months! We're headed for another hotel... soon to be replaced by an apartment, complete with my books and other items necessary for feeling like home. Catch you on the other side.

Note: Happy New Year!