My country you do not exist
you’re my silhouette badly drawn that’s all
a word that fooled the enemy
Before I believed that you were just very small
that you never managed to have
a South and a North
at the same time
but now I know you don’t exist
and what’s more it seems no one needs you
not a single mother can be heard speaking of you
that makes me happy
It proves I invented a country
even though I owe the trick
to the madhouses
I’m a little God along your coast
(I mean to say: for making me an ex-patriot,
you’re an ex-homeland.)
Roque Dalton (1935 - 1975) El Salvador
Translated by James Graham
Source: BOMB Magazine
Wonderful find
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