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).



Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Omen (Pronóstico)

This is how I am trying to approach the day in these times of change, times of uncertainty and of decision making.  From my Dad’s book The celebrated afternoon (La tarde festejada). 
Omen (Pronóstico)
This will be a bright day.
A day of sun and wind and a soft breeze.
The hours will not go by so quickly,
life will be long, a beautiful day.
Not even the echo of a sob will be heard
and God’s smile will be perceived,
a smile that strengthens and perpetuates.
This will be a day of bliss.
And the days ahead will be just like this:
clear, flowing and long-lasting
the way you imagined it and wanted it.
Later in the afternoon you will pick a rose.
If you read and keep this prose
you will never know what it is to be sad.
at 7:01 PM

1 comment:

  1. Buddhist on training wheelsJanuary 26, 2011 at 8:58 PM

    There is a lot of wisdom in this poem. I agree with you Andres, this is a great way to approach each day.

    "And the days ahead will be just like this:
    clear, flowing and long-lasting..."

    ReplyDelete

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