Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Andrea Cote

DESERT

The land that water never wished to touch
is the desert to the North growing like a desolation of light.
But the men that have seen the wilderness
– its uneventful breadth –
know that it is not true that the land is parched out of a whim,
or without any kindness,
that it its way of showing
that which goes by without us.


2

It is for the god of the uninhabited
that invisible temples are raised
in the commotion of the desert.
It is for him
that the dwarf trees incline in the sand
their humble, fervent
branches.
It is so that you do not cling to yourself
that there exists a god of absence
a lord of the desert
that knows
that as the shadow
there are things that exist
by the strength of a light
that abandons them.

DESIERTO

DESIERTO

La tierra que jamás quiso tocar el agua
es el desierto que al Norte está creciendo como un estrago de luz.
Pero los hombres que han visto el despoblado
– su amplitud sin sobresaltos –
saben que no es cierto que la tierra está reseca por capricho,
o sin ninguna bondad,
es nada más su manera de mostrar
lo que transcurre bellamente en nosotros.


2

Es para el dios de lo deshabitado
que se alzan templos invisibles
en la borrasca del desierto.
Es para él
que los árboles enanos inclinan en la arena
sus ramas humildes,
fervorosas.
Es para que no te aferres
que existe un dios de la ausencia,
un señor del desierto
que sabe
que como la sombra
hay cosas que existen
por la fuerza de una luz
que las abandona.
Close

DESERT

The land that water never wished to touch
is the desert to the North growing like a desolation of light.
But the men that have seen the wilderness
– its uneventful breadth –
know that it is not true that the land is parched out of a whim,
or without any kindness,
that it its way of showing
that which goes by without us.


2

It is for the god of the uninhabited
that invisible temples are raised
in the commotion of the desert.
It is for him
that the dwarf trees incline in the sand
their humble, fervent
branches.
It is so that you do not cling to yourself
that there exists a god of absence
a lord of the desert
that knows
that as the shadow
there are things that exist
by the strength of a light
that abandons them.

DESERT

The land that water never wished to touch
is the desert to the North growing like a desolation of light.
But the men that have seen the wilderness
– its uneventful breadth –
know that it is not true that the land is parched out of a whim,
or without any kindness,
that it its way of showing
that which goes by without us.


2

It is for the god of the uninhabited
that invisible temples are raised
in the commotion of the desert.
It is for him
that the dwarf trees incline in the sand
their humble, fervent
branches.
It is so that you do not cling to yourself
that there exists a god of absence
a lord of the desert
that knows
that as the shadow
there are things that exist
by the strength of a light
that abandons them.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère