Between Tortoises and Stars

Maria Vázquez Valdez (Mexico)
translated by Margaret Randall

Between Tortoises and Stars
To the 200,000 tortoises who laid their eggs
in Oaxaca during the quarter moon of
August 2005.

To be embraced by life
without owning the world,
in an ephemeral container
that evaporates
illuminates.

One more element and so small,
huge as the world
gliding in heartbeats
and in breaths.

Without knowing why
here and now
all connects in a space
of wary mysteries.

You glimpse a fleeting sign
in the weft of winds.

Facing the sea and in silence
you watch them emerge by the thousands
among the waves
filled with world, expecting nothing
yet messengers of everything
: life in its wondrous cycle.