Qué lejos está mi tierra

Things are starting to roll. I had busy and even quasi-productive week. I am sure you were all aware that Wednesday March 8th was International Women's Day. How did you celebrate? I helped the local women's organization plan some activities for Wed evening and even read a poem. Very few people showed up which was luckily for me, not so much for the women of the Puntarenas. The following is the poem I read, followed by the English translation for those of you who are Spanish impaired...

Qué lejos está mi tierra,
y sin embargo qué cerca,
o es que esiste un territorio,
donde las sangres se mesclan.

Tanta distancia y camino
las diferentes banderas,
y la pobreza es la misma,
las mismas mujeres esperan.

Yo quiero romper mi mapa,
formar el mapa de todos,
mestizas, negras, blancas,
trazado codo con codo.

Yo quiero romper la vida,
cómo cambiarla quisiera,
ayúdame, compañera;
ayúdame, no demore,
que una gota con ser poco,
con otra se hace aquacero.

How far is my country
yet how close
or is it that there exists a land
where blood mixes.

So far and the road so long,
the different flags,
and the poverty is the same,
the same women wait.

I want to tear my map
create one map for all
Mestizas, Blacks, Whites
drawn arm in arm.

I want to tear life,
to make it what we wish,
help me, friend
help me, without hesitation
One drop is little
with another begins a downpour.

-Daniel Viglietti