¿Qué sos
Sino un triangulito de tierra
Perdido en la mitad del mundo?
¿Qué sos
Sino un vuelo de pájaros
Guardabarrancos
Cenzontles
Colibríes?
¿Qué sos
Sino un ruido de ríos
Llevándose las piedras pulidas y brillantes
Dejando pisadas de agua por los montes?
¿Qué sos
Sino pechos de mujer hechos de tierra,
Lisos, puntudos y amenazantes?
¿Qué sos
Sino cantar de hojas en árboles gigantes
Verdes, enmarañados y llenos de palomas?
¿Qué sos
Sino dolor y polvo y gritos en la tarde,
—Gritos de mujeres, como de parto—?
¿Qué sos
Sino puño crispado y bala en boca?
¿Qué sos, Nicaragua
Para dolerme tanto?
Gioconda Belli
What Are You, Nicaragua?
What are you—
a little triangle of earth
lost in the middle of the world?
What are you—
a flight of birds
guardabarrancos
cenzontles
hummingbirds?
What are you
a roar of rivers
bearing polished, shiny stones
leaving footprints of water in the mountains?
What are you—
A women’s breasts made of earth
Smooth, pointed and threatening?
What are you—
Singing of leaves in gigantic trees
Green, tangled and filled with doves?
What are you—
Pain and dust and screams in the afternoon
“screams like those of women giving birth”?
What are you—
Clenched fist and loaded gun?
What are you, Nicaragua
To cause me such pain?
Gioconda Belli
Translated by Steven F. White
Notes:
In “What Are You, Nicaragua?”, Belli presents two Nicaraguas. The first, an ethereal, physical place of natural beauty, one that is known to Nicaraguans. But Belli questions all of this, the validity of such an appearance, and slowly shifts into the display of a second Nicaragua, one that Nicaraguans and foreigners alike may deny. The line, “A women’s breasts made of earth/Smooth, pointed and threatening?” asserts the countries natural beauty, but also an uncertain danger. This is continued in “screams in the afternoon” which are compared to “women giving birth” to suggest a sort of inevitability to the pain associated with life in Nicaragua. In case the reader’s perception of Nicaragua has not yet changed, Belli writes “Clenched fist and loaded gun” to directly reference struggle and violent revolution. In her final lines, “What are you, Nicaragua/To cause me such pain?” Belli uses Nicaragua by name for the first time in the body of the poem to underscore the shift from the physical beauty to the harsh reality of her country.
It’s a common mistake for readers to assume the poet is talking to them, but Belli is addressing her country. She is challenging Nicaragua’s pain that is as synonymous as its landscape. Here Belli makes a political statement, addressing the violence that plagues her country and using her voice as a poet to be heard. Why should the Nicaraguan’s home, a beautiful country, cause pain? Belli challenges the people to question the true reality in order to better their nation.
Sen Nesin, Nikaragua?
Dünyanın ortasında yitmiş
bir üçgendeki bir parça toprak değilsen eğer,
nesin öyleyse?
Kuşların uçuşu,
Guardabarrancos,
Zenzotles,
Kolibris kuşlarının uçuşu değilsen eğer,
nesin öyleyse?
Dağlardaki suların izi
ve rengarenk taşlarla akan
ırmakların sesi değilsen,
nesin öyleyse?
Topraktan yoğrulmuş
düzgün, sivri ve isyankar göğüsler değilsen,
nesin öyleyse?
Yeşili ve uçuşan güvercinleriyle
görkemli ağaçların yaprak hışırtısı değilsen,
nesin öyleyse?
Doğuran kadınların çığlıklarına benzer
bir çığlık, bir sancı ve sis
değilsen gün biterken,
nesin öyleyse?
Sıkılmış bir yumruk
ve namlusundan sıyrılmış bir kurşun, değilsen,
nesin öyleyse?
Beni böyle kıvrandıran sen,
sen kimsin
Nikaragua?
Gioconda Belli
Türkçesi: Alper Öktem
(Gioconda Belli - Seni Sevebilmek Nikaragua / Öteki Yayınevi / İkinci Baskı, 1998 / Ankara)
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