some Guatamalan reflections for the Traveler

Poems
By Humberto Ak’abal

STONES
It is not that the stones are mute:
They are only keeping silent.

ADVICE
Speak with anyone
So that you will not be taken for a mute,
My grandfather said to me.

And be careful that they
Don’t turn you into someone else.

EFFORT
The effort to forget
Is also poetry.

NAVEL
The sun
Is the navel of the day.

The moon,
That of the night.

FIREFLIES
The fireflies are stars
That come down from the sky,
And the stars are fireflies
That could not descend.

They turn their torches off and on
So that they will last the night.

Originally written in Quiche Maya; translated to Spanish by the author and to English by Earl Shorris