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, May 10, 2011

The last light (La última lámpara)

Today (Tuesday 10th of May, 2011) is my Mum’s 69th birthday. Last year she lost the man she loved and with whom she lived with since she was 17. She still visits him every day at lunch time in the Cathedral where his ashes remain. From my Dad’s book Twilight theory (Teoría del crepúsculo). 

The last light (La última lámpara)

I want you to remember me
when the only thing left of me
is the faint footprint
of a shadow on the sand.

When the mindful signs
have faded
and the winds of oblivion
hit my star
I want you to remember me.

Between the stubbornness
barely lit
by dying lights,
under the silent night
may you be the last  light
to go out.

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