José Agustín Goytisolo

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Sandra
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José Agustín Goytisolo

Post by Sandra »

This poem of one of my favorite spanish poets (J:A:Goytisolo)
for you all:


Nobody is alone

At this very moment
there is a man
who suffers,
a man tortured
only for loving freedom.
I ignore where he lives,
what language he speaks,
or what color his skin has,
how he is called,
but at this same moment,
when your eyes read my small poem,
that man exists,
he screams,
it is possible to hear his harassed animal weeping,
while he bites his lips not to denounce the friends.
Do you hear? A single man,
handcuffed, screaming,
exists somewhere. Did I say alone?
Don´t you feel like me the pain,
the pain of its body repeated in yours?
Isn't your blood flowing under the blind blows?
Nobody is alone.
Now, at this very moment,
You and me are handcuffed too.






NADIE ESTÁ SOLO

En este mismo instante
hay un hombre que sufre,
un hombre torturado
tan sólo por amar
la libertad. Ignoro
dónde vive, qué lengua
habla, de qué color
tiene la piel, cómo
se llama, pero
en este mismo instante,
cuando tus ojos leen
mi pequeño poema,
ese hombre existe, grita,
se puede oír su llanto
de animal acosado,
mientras muerde sus labios
para no denunciar
a los amigos. ¿Oyes?
Un hombre solo
grita maniatado, existe
en algún sitio. ¿He dicho solo?
¿No sientes, como yo,
el dolor de su cuerpo
repetido en el tuyo?
¿No te mana la sangre
bajo los golpes ciegos?
Nadie está solo. Ahora,
en este mismo instante,
también a ti y a mí
nos tienen maniatado
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tom.d.stiller
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Post by tom.d.stiller »

Thank you, Sandra, for bringing this here.

Reading the poem brought me back to the times I've known a lot of refugees from South America. Talking to them, recognizing what they didn't talk about, what they couldn't talk about, made me feel the blows, hear the screams, handcuffed me. Though it is almost thirty years ago, I still can see Ramón's gaze wander away from me, when he didn't answer my questions about his friends at home. He had been a student in Santiago de Chile, before he had to leave home.

30 years ago, but it ain't over. Looking at Amnesty International's reports, I find that torture is still widely used en este mismo instante. And indeed, this tortures me, as it should torture all of us. There is no excuse for torture, and everyone who makes use of it, who makes people torture, or who, as a government official, doesn't actively prevent torture should be removed from his office and punished accordingly.

"No man is an island" - "nadie está solo". May the day come, when every torturer knows that his victim is not alone. That there isn't just a bunch of friends, but a whole world. This might handcuff him.

Tom

I gather that José Agústin Goytisolo was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1928. His family was torn by the Civil War, with the mother killed by a Francoist air raid, and the father loyal to the fascists. At least one of his younger brothers, Juan, the novelist, had been abused as a child by his grandfather. In 1999, aged seventy, José seems to have committed suicide.
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Sandra
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Post by Sandra »

Thank you Tom for your interesting comments.
I discovered J Agustin Goytisolo in 1995 with the book "Elegías a Julia Gay" and I fell in love with those poems dedicated to his mother. He never name her in the poems but she is always present.
He says:
"Yo recuerdo tus manos - hace frío-
arropándome al lecho como copos
de nieve enamorada."
"Tu me explicastes un mundo sin miedo
sin fantasmas, sin castigo....
un niño como yo que no sabía
que existiera un infierno al otro lado..."
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tom.d.stiller
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Post by tom.d.stiller »

Thank you, Sandra, for the additional lines.

Please allow me to suggest a rough translation to help those whose Spanish is as insufficient as mine:
"I remember your hands - it is cold -
tucking myself into bed like snowflakes in love"

"You explained to me a world without fear,
without illusions, without punishment....
a child like me that didn't know
there existed a hell on the other side...."
I can only hope I didn't get it all wrong.

Thank you again for bringing José Agustín Goytisolo to my attention. After savouring what you brought along, I found a few more of his poems on the web ( http://www.poesia-inter.net/indexjag.htm - the whole poesi.as site is a great source for lovers of Spanish poetry, I think... ). But the next time I'm in the library, I'll look out for the "Elegías".

Tom
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Post by Guest »

your translation of the poem is very good Tom........thank you :D
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Sandra
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I am the Guest.......

Post by Sandra »

:D
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