Why do this?

My father, José Luis Villamizar Melo, passed away in my home town of Cúcuta, Colombia, in August last year. The law and economics were Dad's profession, but literature, history and academia his passion. He wrote and published several books, articles and book chapters. The thing is that so many people have missed out on his work, particularly on his beautiful poetry, which he wrote in Spanish prior to the world wide web. So I thought, what a better way to keep Dad's legacy alive than to bring his writing beyond his world and share it with mine. That is why I am translating over 250 of my Dad's poems to English and publishing them here, one a day, Monday to Friday during 2011 (Dad, a family man, always believed that you shouldn't work on weekends).



Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Freed heart (Corazón liberado)

I feel very sad for what is happening in Brisbane (Read the news here).  The situation is terrifying.  I can only pray that those going through such terrible time up there stick together, keep their faith and make it through alive and unharmed.  Everything else is replaceable.  From my Dad’s book La Tarde Festejada (The celebrated afternoon):
Freed heart (Corazón liberado)
Poor heart attached      
to transitory things,
heart loaded with burdens,
disheartened, sad.
You will not see, heart,
the end where the light is born
if you hold on to the land
and are terrified of the land’s fate
foreseen in your horizon.
Wait, heart, for the first light of dawn
after the intense and impenetrable night
that walks indefectible toward the light.
Someone watches over your affliction.
Someone has put on your shoulder
their saviour hand.
Joy! Joy!
Freed heart:
the transfigured night
will be the night of tomorrow!

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