Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Giovanni Quessep

Song of one leaving

Through the virtue of the dawn
You want to change your life
And, clinging to the bundle,
Set out for a destination unknown.



All is propitious. The cliffs
And the reef sleep in the foam.
Only a sea gull awaits
On the mainmast of mahogany and moon.



Perhaps they await you to give you
Love and the wine palm
Or on the nameless shore,
Fishermen mourning in blue.



You go alone with your soul, mixing
Songs and presages,
Speaking of the forest where the grass is thin,
Far from the misfortune conniving in you.



In passing you will see the isles
That grant a snail shell’s sound.
You will see your house, the smoke
Already breathed by others in the dawn.



Yet, alas, if you should pause,
Your destiny may end there.
And who could save you?
Who could give you what you search for among the fairies?



It is hard to leave for fortune.
Man just closes his eyes before the sky
And hears his own story
If the spell is broken.

Canción del que parte

Canción del que parte

Por la virtud del alba
quieres cambiar tu vida,
y aferrado a la jarcia
partes sin rumbo conocido.



Todo es propicio, los acantilados
y el arrecife duermen en la espuma,
tan solo una gaviota espera
sobre el palo mayor de caoba y de luna.



Quizá te aguarden para darte
el amor y la palma del vino
o en la orilla sin nombre,
pescadores vestidos de un luto azul.



Vas solo con tu alma, barajando
canciones y presagios
que hablan del bosque donde la hierba es tenue,
lejos de la desgracia que en ti se confabula.



A tu paso verás las islas
que otorgan el sonido de un caracol,
verás tu casa, el humo
que ya aspiraron otros en la aurora.



Mas, ay, si te detienes
tal vez allí se acabe tu destino;
¿y quién podrá salvarte,
quién te daría lo que buscas entre hadas?



Duro es partir a la fortuna;
el hombre solo cierra los ojos ante el cielo
y oye su propia historia
si se rompe el encanto.
Close

Song of one leaving

Through the virtue of the dawn
You want to change your life
And, clinging to the bundle,
Set out for a destination unknown.



All is propitious. The cliffs
And the reef sleep in the foam.
Only a sea gull awaits
On the mainmast of mahogany and moon.



Perhaps they await you to give you
Love and the wine palm
Or on the nameless shore,
Fishermen mourning in blue.



You go alone with your soul, mixing
Songs and presages,
Speaking of the forest where the grass is thin,
Far from the misfortune conniving in you.



In passing you will see the isles
That grant a snail shell’s sound.
You will see your house, the smoke
Already breathed by others in the dawn.



Yet, alas, if you should pause,
Your destiny may end there.
And who could save you?
Who could give you what you search for among the fairies?



It is hard to leave for fortune.
Man just closes his eyes before the sky
And hears his own story
If the spell is broken.

Song of one leaving

Through the virtue of the dawn
You want to change your life
And, clinging to the bundle,
Set out for a destination unknown.



All is propitious. The cliffs
And the reef sleep in the foam.
Only a sea gull awaits
On the mainmast of mahogany and moon.



Perhaps they await you to give you
Love and the wine palm
Or on the nameless shore,
Fishermen mourning in blue.



You go alone with your soul, mixing
Songs and presages,
Speaking of the forest where the grass is thin,
Far from the misfortune conniving in you.



In passing you will see the isles
That grant a snail shell’s sound.
You will see your house, the smoke
Already breathed by others in the dawn.



Yet, alas, if you should pause,
Your destiny may end there.
And who could save you?
Who could give you what you search for among the fairies?



It is hard to leave for fortune.
Man just closes his eyes before the sky
And hears his own story
If the spell is broken.
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Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
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