Zbornik Mednarodnega literarnega srečanja Vilenica 2004 - Ljudmila

Cai Tianxin
La Havana
I see in the rose flame
An ocean surging
Streets open wide
Like a man’s chest
The mottled walls and windows
A courtyard without moss
People come in and out of holes of doors
rum bottles are collected
echoes float in the air
From the high flood bank
A fearless Cuban boy
Jumps again into the torrent
with reefs on three sides
the cathedral in the shape of a castle
like a giant vessel
swallows multicoloured tourists
On the old hill with cannons facing
the foggy horizon of the north
torches are lit one by one
waiting for that uncertain moment
Cuba, 2000
Translated by Patricia Nolan
The first half of a Brazilian film
This is the silver beach under the moonlight
Near El Salvador, hometown to carnivals
where the Atlantic ocean turns a corner
across from Africa of the ivories and palms
A passionate love between aunt and nephew
One night, she cannot find her lover
Burning forty roses on her lips, her dress
and breasts dash madly like a dust storm
The village trembles uneasily
And in their home without a husband
Her old, infirm sister gloomy and depressed
Watches unable to stop the loved one leaving
Medellin, 2000
406
Translated by Patricia Nolan