642 | COMMOTION | Angela Valle, Honduras

Commotion

Look how your arrival
has stirred up the birds of my soul . . .
How just that look of you
caused commotion in my mourning birds . . .
My unusual flapping
became audible with your presence.
Look how they tremble,
searching for the nest and cry not finding you.
You must know that they have fled
shaken by the inaudible winds,
the swallows of my dreams, faraway
since you came.
Come, lock up one by one
with loving hand the flocks
that are startled fly around,
and in the lateness of life, nest
under your wing, love, forever.

Angela Valle, Honduras (1927–2003)

Translated by Germain Droogenbroodt – Stanley Barkan

from “Poesía soy yo“, Poetas en español del siglo XX
Raquel Lanseros and Ana Merino, Colección Visor de Poesía, 2016