“Ich” | Anne Guzzo
Sklaverei ertrag ich nicht
Ich bin immer ich
Will mich irgend etwas beugen
Lieber breche ich.
Kommt des Schicksals Härte
oder Menschenmacht
Hier, so bin ich und so bleib ich
Und so bleib ich bis zur letzten Kraft.
Darum bin ich stets nur eines
Ich bin immer ich
Steige ich, so steig ich hoch
Falle ich, so fall ich ganz.
―Ingeborg Bachmann (used with permission)
I
Slavery I cannot abide
I am always me
If anything wants to bend me
I prefer to break.
Come the harshness of fate
or the power of men
Here, so I am and so I remain
And so I remain until the last breath.
That’s why I am always one thing [and one thing only]
I am always me
If I rise, I rise high
If I fall, I fall completely.
― translation by Peter O’Brien
In This Earth | Nicolás Lell Benavides
In this earth Moctezuma is resting
In this earth la Virgen de Guadalupe is resting
In this earth Cuauhtémoc is resting
In this earth the war captains are resting
In this earth La Llorona is resting
In this earth the ancestors are resting.
Bare feet dancing on earth
Awaken the resting spirits.
There is a legend that Moctezuma
Came north to la Nueva México
To speak to the kachinas he came
To speak to the war captains he came.
There is a legend that la Virgen
Came to the Américas
To bring peace she came
To bring love she came.
There is a legend that Cuauhtémoc
Resisted the destroyers of his people
That he died resisting
That he is still resisting.
There is a legend that the matachines
Are the war captains of the old tribes
Striking the earth with gourd and spear
Striking the earth they awaken the spirits.
There is a legend that La Llorona is a goddess
Crying in the streets of the Américas
She cries with fear at the deaths of the poor
She cries as witness against the earth’s killers.
There is a legend that our ancestors return
When we pray and dance they return
To give us hope they return
To point the way they return.
Bare feet dancing on the earth
Awaken the resting spirits.
Let us be dancers each Day of the Living
Let our dance make sacred the flesh of the earth
Let our dance awaken the ancestral spirits
Let their memory live on this earth.
―Rudolfo Anaya (used with permission)