NINE DEGREES CELSIUS AT 33º SOUTH
in this southern spring
The polar breeze changes
the colour of the Santiago sky
Between the new buildings
shines an opaque sun
even more distant
than in other parts of the world
The people of the ancient Chimba walk
near the river of the earth
despite the cold
and their poverty
among luminous shop windows
full of expensive things
but all possible
if you pay in infinite
infinite
and usurious rates
Here a military imposed
fifty years ago
for other people's hands
the law of the extreme-market
with blood and gore
paid in cold installments
by the brave
and in lukewarm cloths
by the timorous
But I watch and listen
attentively
the murmur of the street
of the courtyards
Y...And
through the air
new breezes are already blowing
The young smile
brings
in its buttonhole
the scent of spring
enveloped in the murmur
of crowds
But it still lacks
the paste that curdles
so much strength
so much need
and demand for life
without mortgages
Neither political
nor economic
nor theoretical
The new
new
With roots in deep soil
but only with goals
that hands
and minds
can
make real
without blood
And returning
already dark the clouds
coming from the south
a solitary violinist
in the empty Calle Huérfanos
He throws out into the cold air
faint sounds
that remind me
here
in the south of the world
the streets of Prague
and Paris
in other cold springs
that
but
warmed our
our hearts
and sharpened
our brains.
igor parra years ago
