Confines for our dreams (Ambito para los sueños)

To my Mum on the day of her 52^nd wedding anniversary with my Dad. From my Dad’s book Under the shadow (Sombrabajo).

Confines for our dreams (Ambito para los sueños)

This house will be inhabited by life and the dreams of many.

First of all it will be occupied until death

by the vanities that inspired the desire for it to be the way it is,

full of lights and voices,

the spotless whiteness of the walls,

the soothing freshness of the stone,

the rhythm of the water in the small fountain,

the green lawns, the roses and the trees.

The intimacy of the bedrooms

sheltered in the half-light of the galleries,

made, precisely for that, in a natural way,

to measure the days, so the measurement

of the days left to live with plenitude

feels long.

It can be walked along with eyes closed.

Each of us put a little of themselves there.

We will find what is ours

without effort, with no rush, because in each wall,

in each column, on the roofs,

in the foundations that hold the house

persists the essence that preceded the things

in every creation that emotion dominates.

The children will grow. Luzmyla and I will go forward

until the end. One day

we will pay death tribute.

The house will begin to fill up with memories,

time will start its duty.

From then on the house and the absent

will be one notion, an idea without distinction.

We will tell or those who can say it will tell

which was the most loved corner of the one who left forever,

where he liked to rest, the lamp that lit his reading,

the book that he used to hold in his hand,

the place where his voice once raised irritated

and another time when it was compassion.

In this house friends will always

find the door wide open

and will find kindness in the heart

of those who inhabit it.

It does not matter that we love in it

or that once hatred creep up the walls.

We will insist in living the days

without wondering when they will end.

Meanwhile we will grow the garden.

We will let the air come in through the patios.

We will use the veranda to enjoy the rain.

The trees will have our constant care

and we will invite the birds to the banquet of their fruit.

Life will inhabit this house

and permission without limits is given

to dream all kinds of dreams.