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, March 8, 2011

All I have is your signs (Tengo solo tus señas)

From my Dad’s book Urgent poetry (Poesía de urgencia), dedicated to those who felt, for a moment, something very special for someone, electricity, a connection, but didn’t do anything about it.

All I have is your signs (Tengo solo tus señas)

I am certain that I did not know your name.
You lived in the world but the world
was the reference point you gave me.

If memories exist
you will be one of them
even though time was short
to understand your signs,
or the place of your dreams,
or your name, different to that name
that I so profoundly learnt,
or where you came from
or where you went oh sweet friend of mine.
at 7:00 PM
What do you think? 

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