Poesía

Iguaçu

In anger, M`Boy, the Serpent-God

Transformed Naipi and Tarobá

Into a rock and a yearning tree

At the huge Falls of Iguaçu

As punishment, for running away

From their destiny;  as Francesca da Rimini

And her lover, forever in Dante`s Hell,

Were condemned for following their own commands.

 

Or was it a Serpent-Goddess

Who desired Tarobá for herself?

And if he would not be with her

The earth would be buckled into absolute chaos

And turned into cataracts to kill them both,

With Naipi turned into a rock

Upon which Tarobá grows as grass,

While the jealous goddess hides in her cave.

 

 

 

O to get lost in Paraguay,

Get lost, get lost, like an Indian,

Escaping from wrath of some tormenting god,

But without that god ever finding you!

 

O!  to be with the Indians,

Hiding in the Chaco, dispersing away

From Civilization!  O what a dream

With the psyche melting into everynothing.

 

O to forget all hassles and quarrels

Of the civilized world, the guilt and insuperable

Pain, just to feel love and death

And hunger and misery in a dark thorn.

 

 

 

With the crashing Falls and the Guaraní myths,

And the easy girls and the simple steps,

Survival is all that it ever was,

Why must our brains be so filled with hell?

 

Why must one always be full of concern,

Always worrying about sticks or bones;

Our ancestors fought for caves or fields,

But did not prick their consciences

 

As we all do.  We have lost a boon!

But think we advance in our degeneracy;

O give me sun, and a lovely girl,

And let me forget, for a minute, all.