RITES
Every time I go back
To my country
after a long trip
The first thing I do
Is ask about those who have died:
All men are heroes
By the simple act of dying
And the heroes are our teachers.

And second
about the wounded.

Only later
when this small ritual
Is completed
Do I allow myself to live:
I close my eyes to see more clearly
And bitterly sing
A song from the turn of the century.

translated by Miller Williams
traducido por Miller Williams

 

en: Antipoems: New and Selected (edited by David Unger), New York, New Directions, 1985.
SISIB - Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades - Universidad de Chile