Poetry
The following poem was written by Padre Flor Maria Rigoni, c.s. Padre Rigoni has played a vital role in establishing the ‘Casas de Migrante’ in various border cities of Mexico. The ‘Casas del Migrante’ are centres of support and hospitality, providing accommodation, meals, spiritual support, and basic medical services to migrants. Padre Rigoni’s outstanding career in the effective promotion and protection of the rights of migrants was recognised by the award of the 2006 Mexico’s National Human Rights Prize.
| FRUTO CODICIADO para una muchacha de trata sin nombre ni rostro |
COVETED FRUIT for a trafficked girl who has no name and no face |
| Nunca supe tu nombre... para muchos eres una muñeca más, un arete que se cambia un huarache que se tira. |
I never knew your name… For many you are just another doll, an earring to be changed a sandal to be thrown away |
| Te vislumbré detrás de una cortina: tu silueta desnuda y caída colgaba de un bulto varonil. |
I caught a glimpse of you behind the curtain: your silhouette naked and fallen hanging off some masculine shape |
| Volví a verte desnuda en la lupa de un fotógrafo en aquellas revistas donde tú y bestias raras están en el mismo corral. |
I saw you again naked in the lens of a photographer in those magazines where you and rare animals are confined in the same cage. |
| Te sorprendí en un raro momento de tu soledad: habías vuelto tu infierno un rincón de paraíso... por lo menos en tus sueños prohibidos. |
I surprised you in a rare moment of your loneliness: you had transformed your hell into a corner of paradise... at least in your forbidden dreams. |
| Te habías puesto tu prenda de novia si que nadie llegara a pedirte: bailabas sola delante de un espejo contemplabas tu formas danzar como gaviota de altura. |
You had put on your wedding garment even though no-one had proposed dancing alone in front of a mirror contemplating your ways dancing like a gull flying high. |
| La tuya fue la única mirada casta sobre tu cuerpo y tal vez la otra había sido la de tu madre. |
Yours was the only chaste look over your body, perhaps the other had been your mother's. |
| Dime: ¿qué es la libertad para ti. el amor, el hombre, la vida? | Tell me: what is freedom for you? love, man, life? |
| No me contestes: ya te levantaste en vuelo libre de toda cadena... has inventado la fiesta más allá de nuestras muertes. |
Do not answer me: you've already risen up in flight free from all chains... you have invented the joy beyond our deaths. |
* All copyrigh of Flor Maria Sagoni, c.s.