WORDS OF A CAMPESINO DURING THE INAUGURATION OF THE MAYPOLE

Ladies and gentlemen

I have had to abandon everything

across the lagoon

where along with my wife and kids

I used to walk

every Sunday

in the evenings

on the riverbanks

under the summer trees

just to be here —present

at the inauguration

of this beautiful season of MayPole

friends

in this celebration

I am rain and I am sun

and I have come to give you plenty to think —to you all

I still love the ron-don

the walagallo

and the tualbí

and a weekend without politics nor brawls

and I am here among you

with my hat

my caite and my sajino

determined to dance in the center of the May circle:

rin-tin-tín

Everybody rinqui-tinqui-tín

as if we had

a thousand snakes all over the body:

with tremors of arms legs and feet

with the hands on the hips

over the heads

behind the heads

with the belly the hips the shoulders

up down by the sides

almost out of context

almost out of our minds

beyond the seasoning dog movements

peeling the teeth —for pure madness or joy—

but peeling them

with the white and sweaty handkerchief

hanging from the mouth

from the tip of the toes

simsaimaloning, companions

through the streets of all the towns

until breaking the bones

but without breaking the rhythm

breaking the dawn-

“Lu-lu-lu-lu pass anda

Gial an ‘buay de pass anda”…

with a song for all the dances

and a dance for all the songs

this is May

and I’ve come with rage

after so many seasons of hunger and blasphemy

that have affected me

even in prayer

and that’s why

I have decided

To protest at last

from here

the place where nobody

wants

to die of oblivion.