Translation: Sarah J. Turtle &
Iņaki Mendiguren
Cherry trees in flower
She tells me she wants to return to her native land
to silence her childish tears,
to see the cherry trees in flower
before May is out.
In time streets and ideas
have gone wrong for her,
she no longer finds her breath
in the place where she left it.
Loneliness, she says, walks along winter streets
in a thick coat,
she says there are houses that
only open their doors
to let in the cold from outside.
She says days break up in her hands,
and that each night she dresses like the recently deceased,
because she is ashamed to die naked in bed.
May is nearly out,
she has put sun-warmed stones in her pocket.
She tells me she wants to return to her native land
to silence her childish tears.
© Leire Bilbao
© of the translation: Sarah J. Turtle & Iņaki Mendiguren