In These Times
Happy New Year . . . Today you who have
my land on both sides of you, how happy you are, brother.
I am the wandering child of all that I love.
Answer me, imagine that I am with you,
asking you, imagine that I am with you,
asking you, imagine that I am that January wind,
Puelche wind, ancient wind of the mountains
that when you open the door visits you
entering, airing its swift questions.
Tell me, have you gone into a field of wheat or barley,
is it golden? Speak to me of a day of plums.
Far from Chile I think of a day, circular,
purple, transparent, of sugar in clusters,
and of thick blueberries dripping
into my mouth, their cups filled with delight.
Tell me, did you bite into the pure flank
of a peach today, filling yourself with immortal ambrosia,
until you too became the fountain of the earth,
fruit and fruit arriving in splendor to the world?
———————————
Pablo Neruda
Canto General
song of the Americas
translated by Mariela Griffon
Tupelo Press, 2016
