translated from the Galician by Erín Moure

I devise farewells that topple

that abruptly plunge
there’s a dark womb
and exhausted hands
I ideate a farewell that brings us
to know the body like this
a dune too that unravels
in the wave of breath
with that sigh of women who’ve come
with screens of mourning
in their larynx

The flower-tip, that node of life
from which emerges
a yolk of colour and petals

Nerve of life, it spreads open
wants to spread open and thrive
It’s what speaks to us
stutters babbles attempts to get up:

a raw wince of light


 

Despedidas

 

Concibo despedidas que caen

que se precipitan
hai unha matriz moura
unhas mans esgotadas
ideo unha despedida que se nos
desprende do corpo así
tamén a duna que se desfai
na onda do alento
con este sopro das que viñeron
con pantallas de loito
na larinxe

A punta da flor, ese nó de vida
sobre o que se produce
unha xema de cor e pétalos

Nervio de vida ábrese
quere abrirse e sosterse
ela é quen nos fala
tatexa farfalla tenta erguerse:

unha chaga de luz

Copyright © 2024 by Oriana Méndez and Erín Moure. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 4, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets.