OUR HAMMOCK
Come over to the hammock where I wrote
the book dedicated to your sacred presence
It brings back to me all the loneliness
Which I slept there All those gestures of my soul
hunting those words in their flight
to record in a less fragile time
the rain of your tears The dreamed of sleep
on your chest That morning always to be remembered
with our hands entwined in amongst all
the turmoil
In the belly of that hammock I laid down
my tiredness with life I cradled my sorrows
I shielded myself from the summer heat And dreamed:
You were coming in the middle of the night to comfort me
and I said this I was writing a poem that would preserve
your memory and this I did Unfold my sad wings
and cried
Stretch out and I will mix you a drink to cool you
sleep if you can For I will keep watch
Translated by Mike Baynham from a poem in Spanish by Raúl Gómez Jattín. La hamaca nuestra/Our Hammock. Raúl Gómez Jattín: a queer Colombian poet in translation
Original text in Spanish
LA HAMACA NUESTRA
Ven hasta la hamaca donde escribí
el libro dedicado a tu sagrada presencia
Ella me recuerda toda esa soledad
que dormí en ella Todos esos gestos de mi alma
persiguiéndole el vuelo a las palabras
que grabaran en un tiempo menos frágil
la lluvia de tus lágrimas El reposo soñado
en tu pecho La mañana eternamente memorable
de nuestras manos enlazadas en medio del tumulto
En el vientre de esa hamaca recosté
mi cansancio de la vida Acuné dolores
Me defendí de la canícula Y soñé:
Tú venías en medio de la noche a consolarme
y eso dije Escribía un poema que preservara
tu memoria y eso hice Desatar mis alas tristes y lloré
Tiéndete que yo te meceré para refrescarte
si te es posible duerme Que yo velaré
Poema de Raúl Gómez Jattín
Copyright © Rubén Gómez Jattín
Transforming with Poetry 