"Right now" – a poem from Catalan great, Miquel Martí i Pol

Translation of 'Ara mateix' by Brett Hetherington and Antoni Cardona

https://www.escriptors.cat/index.php/english

(From the book L’àmbit de tots els àmbits)


Right now I’m threading this needle
with a thread of purpose – I’m not saying what –
and I’m going to attach it. 

None of the wonders
that famous miracle-workers announced
were accomplished and the years are running away quickly.

From nothing to little and always with the wind against your face,
how long is the path of agony and silence.

And we are where we are; it’s better to know it and say it
and place our feet on the earth and proclaim ourselves
heirs of a time of doubts and resignation
where noises drown words
and with so many mirrors we are maiming life.

It isn’t worth it to complain or get nostalgic,
or the touch of indifferent melancholia.

Melancholia that we put on like a jumper or a tie
when we go out into the street. We have hardly got
what we’ve got and that’s all: the space of particular history that belongs to us
and a minuscule territory to live in. Let’s stand up another time and everyone’s
voice can be heard, strong and clear.

Let’s shout out who we are and everyone can hear.
And, in the end, everyone can dress as they like, and Via fora! (1),
there is so much to be done and everything is possible.

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(1) Via fora!, is a cry of Catalan medieval alarm with which the population was called
to go out to the streets to defend their freedoms from an external or internal
threat.

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Ara mateix                  [Miquel Martí i Pol]

Ara mateix enfilo aquesta agulla
amb el fil d'un propòsit que no dic
i em poso a apedaçar. Cap dels prodigis
que anunciaven taumaturgs insignes
no s'ha complert i els anys passen de pressa.
De res a poc, i sempre amb vent de cara,
quin llarg camí d'angoixa i de silencis.
I som on som; més val saber-ho i dir-ho
i assentar els peus en terra i proclamar-nos
hereus d'un temps de dubtes i renúncies
en què els sorolls ofeguen les paraules
i amb molts miralls mig estrafem la vida.
De res no ens val l'enyor o la complanta,
ni el toc de displicent malenconia
que ens posem per jersei o per corbata
quan sortim al carrer. Tenim a penes
el que tenim i prou: l'espai d'història
concreta que ens pertoca i un minúscul
territori per viure-la. Posem-nos
dempeus altra vegada i que se senti
la veu de tots, solemnement i clara.
Cridem qui som i que tothom ho escolti.
I, en acabat, que cadascú es vesteixi
com bonament li plagui, i via fora,
que tot està per fer i tot és possible.

(Del llibre L’àmbit de tots els àmbits)