CIII: I saw my country’s map in yellow one day

Selected Poems of Juan Gelman
translated by Hardie St. Martin

CIII:  I saw my country’s map in yellow one day

i saw my country’s map in yellow one day
it happened suddenly and i thought how strange
the word yellow it was
a perfect day in fall

full of lives and tremors i
saw
my country floating
on the Atlantic we

were drifting along with it i felt
something like terror
or love or grief
as i faced the yellow map i thought

about my country we were all drifting
to the south the interior the north and so
i dreamt about your love
my darkened one i mean peace

fall was just beginning my country
was drifting on the sea
the wide open ocean
strange words oh so strange