Nidia Hernández: Refugiada | A refugee

Refugiada


Como en el cuadro de un país lejano,
el país de una película extranjera
donde ahora vivo

estoy a solas con los árboles,
refugiada
entre sus copas

Toco la lluvia que cae sobre ellos
humedeciendo su corteza,
dibujando planetas
continentes
sobre sus troncos
en la madera de un idioma
donde todo nace
y vuelve a renacer
donde la condición foránea
es un arbusto
que con su movimiento
dice: -Ven.

~~~

A refugee

Translated by Rowena Hill

Like in a painting of a distant country
the country in a foreign film
where I live now

I’m alone with the trees
a refugee
among their crowns

I touch the rain that falls on them
moistening their bark
drawing planets
continents
on their trunks,
on the wood of a language
where everything is born
and reborn again
where the foreign condition
is a bush
that with its movement
says ‘come’.

~~~~~

Nidia Hernández was born in Venezuela, and has been living in the US since 2018. She is a poet and translator of Portuguese poetry, an editor, broadcaster, and radio producer, and a poetry curator. Nidia directs the editorial project lamajadesnuda.com, which won the 2011 WSA prize for Cultural Heritage. She curates Poesiaudio (Arrowsmith Press) and is a contributor for Mercurius Magazine. She has presented works drawn from the 31 years of her radio program (also called La maja desnuda) which has more than 1,560 broadcasts. Currently, she is broadcasting the program through UPV Radio 102.5 FM in Valencia, Spain.

Copyright 2024 Nidia Hernández. Translation copyright Rowena Hill. From The Farewell Light (2024, Arrowsmith)