Peace
(translation|modification of Paz)
by Luis S. González-Acevedo
He flung his fist, then his sword;
he fired a rifle, then launched a missile:
Taking precious life,
vile men acquire power.
Eternally, he closes his eyes
and remembers his mother just before death.
He sheds a red-tinted tear:
funereal moment of eternal suffering.
Laughing, the killer looks
at the one who lets his soul fly.
Listening to agonies and supplications,
he drives a dagger through his victim once more.
At night, a mother drowns in her weeping
and remembers her boy who marched off to war.
She begs God for divine protection,
not knowing her son died with the sun.
Lamentable is the human condition,
hate and violence pour from its pores.
In pursuit of profane dominion,
humanity appropriates life.
What a beautiful flower the world would be!
If it didn’t hide a voracious thorn…
If it gave life to the moribund
and peace to the human race…
–You can find the poem in Caribbean Poet, by Luis S. González-Acevedo or the original version in Spanish in Poemas Caribeños, por Luis S. González-Acevedo–
