Laura Pelegrina: “Childhood”

Laura Pelegrina
Chilhood

Translated by Melisa Tehrani

 

She didn’t belong to anyone

She didn’t have an owner, nothing could restrain her

She didn’t belong to any one country

She didn’t even belong to herself

 

If the sun was shining, she would walk cheerfully

If it rained, she’d confuse the beat of the droplets

With the beat of a castaway’s heart.

They would call her crazy.

 

That’s how I wanted to love her,

My eyes fixed on hers, her gaze

Stuck between reality and the surreal.

She was inside, she was theirs,

But she slipped my grasp.

Perhaps through me, she lives on.

 

Childhood (Infancia) in Spanish

 

 

Ella no pertenecía a nadie,

no tenia dueño, nada la contenía,

no era de ningún país,

ni a sí misma pertenecía.

 

Si el día era soleado andaba alegre,

si llovía confundía el sonido del agua sobre los charcos

con los latidos del corazón de un náufrago.

Decían que estaba loca.

 

Quise quererla así,

fijé mis ojos, en sus ojos suspendidos

entre lo tangible y lo irreal.

Ella estaba dentro, pertenecía a ellos,

pero no pude asirla.

Puede que aún siga conmigo.

 

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