Giobany Arévalo > Gabriela Torres Olivares >Anuar Jalife - Literal

Natural Causes
Pura López Colomé
Translated to English by Tanya Huntington Hyde
Like a fi sh takes to water,
like one I never was,
I now encompass
all I haven’t been
in a single swift gulp
dispatched to the lungs
not unlike a missive overfl owing
with wishes
that breaks the barrier
of sound.
No one was ever in any danger.
Once upon a time was once
an inoffensive tale
written in fountain pen and Chinese ink.
The time, the place, the device
to speak,
God willing,
of the sender
to His Excellency,
the receiver:
Through air of glass I contemplate
the see-through shed
of this my city, this my country,
this my chance.
Without a trace of misappropriation,
I want you to know, there where you are
found,
that my love was no venom.
It was simply complicated,
twisted, not deformed,
an unlucky insect, an animal
wounded from birth,
wounded to death,
that drags itself here to offer you
the fi nal breath of already absolved
capital sins that were experienced,
for you to forgive,
for you to nail between the eyes
the hidden truths
behind the setting sun:
the why of a prayer
to the evening star,
to the speed of light
toward oneself.
All this, knowing there’s no way out.
for my sole and eternal companion
OTOÑO, 2009 LITERAL. VOCES LATINOAMERICANAS 9