Poems by Juan Gonzalo Rose

 

Poems by Juan Gonzalo Rose

Marisel

I remember that you were like the broken spring of roses

and like the words that children whisper

Smiling in your dreams.

 

I remember that you were

like the water that the blind drink silently,

or like the saliva of birds

when love tombs with joy in the eaves.

 

In the last sand of the afternoon you stretched

overwhelmed with grace your gazelle body

and the night came to your naked chest

as the rain approaches sailing ships.

 

And now, Marisel, life happens

without any moment bringing us joy.

Time must have died with us,

Or you must have loved me like I loved you.

 

Escape to the sea

Lock me up. Protect me. And stop me. Stop me. Here, now, everything is dark and silent. The shadow has erased every page. Barely, bending the glass petals, the dull murmurs of a street light and the flattering suspicion of autumn penetrate. Here, just us. The two of us, in our bedroom, while Lima shivers under the fog and a child like me, just like me, maybe myself, throws her verses on her shoulder and escapes towards the sea.

Exact dimension

I like you because you have the color of the patios

of the quiet houses...

and more precisely:

I like you because you have the color of the patios

of the quiet houses

When summer comes…

 

and more precisely:

I like you because you have the color of the patios

of the quiet houses on January afternoons

When summer comes…

 

and more precisely:

I like you because I love you

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu, twice

I sat on your slope

to look at my life.

to look at my life

And not to contemplate you,

Because we need

Less beauty, Father,

And more wisdom.

(Report to the king and other secret books, Lima, 1967)

 

Clarity speech

Fire in the fire. Light in the water, Love in the heart: Never abandon me. Cistern that the moon will overflow, Rapturous might of snow: Shine in me. Forest Tune Accompany, forever, my joy. And let the shattered mirror be my death Where the sands of the day continue to burn.

(Report to the king and other secret books, Lima 1967)

I am already purified, poetry.

 

We can now look each other in the eyes

 

As in the afternoon of that light:

 

I played the round among children,

 

And your hands, trembling, chose me.

 

 

 

(Findings and Losses, Lima, 1968)

Fourth song

 

 

I'm drowning in the sky.

My heart bows

And the islands do not arrive.

Give me your hand then,

I want to die playing

The sweetest end of the earth

(Simple song, Lima 1960)

Fireflies and verses

 

Well, a worthy case is that of the bug.

 

What more lights

 

The more you die.

 

And not that of the man

 

That is overshadowed by few

 

And it's much darker

 

When it lasts.

 

(Quarantine, 1968 Collected in 1974 in O.P.)

Juan Gonzalo Rose

 

(Tacna, 1928 Lima, 1983)

Editor's Note:

Unfortunately, the language barrier often does not allow the translation to be the correct expression of the poet's thoughts in this case.

 

 

With affection,

Ruben