John Berger / Migrant words

MIGRANT WORDS

by John Berger

John Berger / Palabras emigrantes

In a pocket of earth 
I buried all the accents 
of my mother tongue 

there they lie 
like needles of pine 
assembled by ants 

one day the stumbling cry 
of another wanderer 
may set them alight 

then warm and comforted 
he will hear all night 
the truth as lullaby 

1980

John Berger / Leavings

John Berger

LEAVINGS

by John Berger

John Berger / Despedidas

Brightest guests have gone 

Green furnishings are down, 

Shadeless light condones 

Black frost on window panes. 

Where lovers and grasses 

Spent their seeds 

Over iron crevices 

Ice now makes the beds. 

Yet indulge no regret. 

Mouse eye of robin, 

Creeping silence, 

These cautious lines, 

Bear witness still 

In their circumvention 

To the constant 

Tenancy of man. 

1956/57