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| Raúl Gómez Jattin |
THE ADORING GOD
By Raúl Gómez Jattin
Translated from Spanish by Nicolás Suescún
I am a god in my town and my valley
not because they adore me But because I adore myself
Because I bow before anyone who gives me
a few granadillas or offers me a smile
Or because I go where the harsh people live
to beg for a coin or a shirt and they give it to me
Because I watch the sky with the eyes of a hawk
and I name it in my verses Because I am alone
Because I slept seven months in a hammock
and five on the sidewalks of a city
Because I look askance at riches
but not with hatred Because I love those who love me
Because I know how to grow orange trees and vegetables
even under the noon sun Because I have a godfather
and I baptized all of his children and blessed his marriage
Because I am not good in a known manner
Because I love birds and the rain washing my soul
in the open Because I was born in May
Because my mother abandoned me precisely
when I most needed her Because when I am sick
I go to the charity hospital Because above all
I respect only he who respects me The one that works
every day for a bitter lonely and disputed piece of bread
like these verses of mine stolen from death
not because they adore me But because I adore myself
Because I bow before anyone who gives me
a few granadillas or offers me a smile
Or because I go where the harsh people live
to beg for a coin or a shirt and they give it to me
Because I watch the sky with the eyes of a hawk
and I name it in my verses Because I am alone
Because I slept seven months in a hammock
and five on the sidewalks of a city
Because I look askance at riches
but not with hatred Because I love those who love me
Because I know how to grow orange trees and vegetables
even under the noon sun Because I have a godfather
and I baptized all of his children and blessed his marriage
Because I am not good in a known manner
Because I love birds and the rain washing my soul
in the open Because I was born in May
Because my mother abandoned me precisely
when I most needed her Because when I am sick
I go to the charity hospital Because above all
I respect only he who respects me The one that works
every day for a bitter lonely and disputed piece of bread
like these verses of mine stolen from death
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