Poetry
Alex Bäcker
2020
2 min readThis poem is an English translation of Silvio Rodriguez’s 'Ojalá', expressing a desperate yearning for emotional distance and release from the haunting presence of a former lover.
I hope leaves don’t touch your sacred body when they fall So you can’t make cold ice crystals out of them all I hope rain stops miraculously kissing your body as it falls I hope the shy pale Moon dares come out without you I hope the Earth fails to kiss the steps walked by you
I hope you run out of the constant perfect gaze The precise word to hurt me The one smile to seduce me I hope something quite sudden happens to erase you A blinding lightning bolt A cannon ball of snow
I hope at least death takes me and puts me away So I don’t see you so much So I don’t see you always In each of all my seconds In each of all my visions
I hope I can’t even Touch you with my music
I hope the dawn won’t utter screams that fall on my back I hope that voice forgets how to whisper your name I hope the walls don’t keep in your noise of tired and worn footsteps I hope desire follows you and goes away To your old tyrant reign of dead men and dead flowers
I hope you run out of the constant perfect gaze The precise word to hurt me The one smile to seduce me I hope something quite sudden happens to erase you A blinding lightning bolt A cannon ball of snow
I hope at least death takes me and puts me away So I don’t see you so much So I don’t see you always In each of all my seconds In each of all my visions
I hope I can’t even Touch you with my music
I hope something quite sudden happens to erase you A blinding lightning bolt A cannon ball of snow
I hope at least death takes me and puts me away So I don’t see you so much So I don’t see you always In each of all my seconds In each of all my visions
I hope I can’t even Touch you with my music