Our Lineage / Nuestra Estirpe Poem by Luz EtchemendiGaray

I am beside deep blue,
fill with wind and watercolours.
Standing rampand, clad
in my white dress,
I close my eyes and dream...

I am made of imprecise materials,
of sand and mother-of-pearl,
of marine algaes.
Deep within my body there is silk
and the sun lends its gold to my hair.
I am sculpted in stone, in terra cotta,
in clay and in firewood,
like the log that sails serenely
down the river of my childhood.

All these elements
form part of our lineage,
that lineage of ancient seamen
who crossed the ocean
to dropp their anchor here,
where awaited those women
with eyes accustomed
to far distances,
here, on my shore,
where I was born.

All these live within me,
I carry their stamp,
I am their design,
their banner.


Translated by Sue Littleton, Daniel Ginhson and the Author.

From the book 'Golden Summer / Verano de Oro',2011.
















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