The shield (El escudo)

From my Dad’s book Elementary motherland (Patria elemental).

The shield (El escudo)

Five irises made of silver and red

were taken and put on the shiny golden background

of Doña Juana’s shield.

A Roman magistrate’s spear,

an axe of life and death and a bundle

of native arrows.

Around these elements the noble title

that the city achieved when it was no longer a large farm

and became “courageous village, noble and loyal”

and with a patron: Saint Joseph, rigorous and triumphant.

It is the shield of the Juanes’ land,

which has served its Quixotes to fight in the open air

against the Yanguesans and pirates.