Monument to Columbus. Spoken by a piece of the ship in which he discovered the New World.
Once I had an empire, wanderer,
upon the billows of the salty sea;
I was moved by the wind and well-respected,
to southern lands I forged an opening.
I am in my old age a rough-hewn plank;
I was a beech, and by my leaves adorned,
from that same stuff that I made wings for for sailing,
first I manufactured tongues to sing.
In sadness I accompany this tomb,
and though these are Columbus's remains,
I will not name him —holy,without peers—
for fear that, out of pity, people here
from tender eyes will so much water spill,
we'll be back on the ocean of their tears.
Translated by Alix Ingber
#EscritoresEspañoles #Soneto ABBA ABBA CDE CDE
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