Mantis 20 (Spring 2022)
Retrospective
translated by Zoë Anglesey
Alexis Romay
Tiempo de Exilio
Descubrí elm undo en el año de; tigre o de las hienas.
La composición era una imagen futurista
día nublado como unos ojos de muchacha ausente,
los puertos, los gorriones, lacaridad de los que nunca concedieron,
y algún amigo en los contornos del amor.
Las monedas cayeron de canto mi cama fue una lápida vacía.
Tuve una mujer que pagó a tiempo las promesas,
el temor, y el hospedaje.
Cuando me internaron con botas y uniforme –
huérfano de vicios, de credo, y de estipendios –
mi percepción tomó el color de las vidrieras.
La necedad de los empecinados me obligó a correr,
y cada despedida fue una hipótesis de hielo.
No admito asiento, ni estandarte. Tengo un dolor adulto
acomodado a su propria estatura y sus desproporciones.
En la rutina, o en los terremotos,
en cautiverio, o en estado salvaje
desde el tiempo de mi exilio acepto los contrastes.
Exile Time
I discovered the world in the year of the tiger and hyenas.
The drawing was futuristic
a cloudy day similar to a young woman’s eyes
far away, docks, sparrows, charity from those who never give in,
and some friend on the margins of love.
Coins fell on end, my bed was a black tombstone.
I knew a woman who paid promises on time,
I was afraid and had enjoy for lodging.
When I was inducted with boots and uniform,
orphaned from vices, creed and stipend,
what I saw caught hues of stained glass.
Hard-headed need made me run
and each parting was a test of my steel.
I do not permit prudence nor standards. I know adult
sorrow adjusted to my own height and disproportions.
Routinely or during earthquakes,
in captivity or a salvage state
since going into exile, I accept extremes.
Originally printed in Mantis 1 (2000)
ZOË ANGLESEY (1941 – 2013) was a poet, translator, editor, and jazz critic from the Pacific Northwest. She edited five poetry anthologies over the course of her career, including Something More Than Force: Poems for Guatemala 1971-1982 (1982), IXOK AMAR-GO: Central American Women’s Poetry for Peace (1987), and Listen Up! Spoken Word Poetry (1999).
ALEXIS ROMAY is the author of two novels, Salidas de emergencia (2007) and La apertura cubana (2013), and two books of poetry, Los Culpables (1970) and Diversionismo ideológico (2012). He has translated novels into Spanish by Ana Veciana-Suarez, Margarita Engle, and Stuart Gibbs and a novel into English by Miguel Correa Mujica.