The Reason for Discouragement: Verses from Mexico

Mexico Tomás Calvillo Unna Prose

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La Razon del Desanimo
(English translation below)

Ingenuos creyentes del paraíso
abonamos al infierno,
adheridos a los sentidos como único camino.
Hemos convertido al mundo
en una adición escalofriante.
Aun así, el tiempo trastorna
esta pretensión de dominio;
este continuo y febril
despojo de sí mismos.

Cruel incontinencia
que a todos hiere.
No sabemos ya cómo detenernos.
Los diques del sueño están demolidos;
la conciencia en su gran naufragio;
meticulosa tarea de los segundos
contados en la fugaz ganancia.

Sin darnos cuenta nos adentramos
en los océanos de la mente,
sin mapa alguno.
Sin oración siquiera para entender
el mañana de cada día
y adiestrar los deseos;
domando uno a uno en esta avalancha
que pretende terminar con la palabra.

Ya no nombramos.
Solo sumamos los delirios
de emociones que se acumulan
en la nada, de la nada, de la nada

Aquí estamos,
acosándonos unos a otros;
convertidos en inalámbricos demócratas,
ensordecidos a punto de estallar
sin saber siquiera para qué.

Los criminales se enorgullecen.
Los hemos invitado a sentarse a la mesa,
ellos afirman que la mesa es suya.

¿De dónde llegaron?
Habitaban entre nosotros.
Dentro de nosotros.
Somos nosotros;
este terror que anida y oculta
el antiguo corazón de las cosas
que daba vida.

————————-o—————————-

The Reason for Discouragement

Hell is fed
by we naive believers in paradise
who stick to our emotions like it’s the only path.
We’ve converted the world
to a chilling addiction.
Even so, time turns this pretension of dominion
upside down;
this continuous and feverish
plunder of our selves.

Cruel incontinence
that wounds us all.
We no longer know how to restrain ourselves.
The dikes of dreams are demolished;
consciousness in her great shipwreck;
meticulous task of seconds
recounted in fleeting gain.

Unaware, we dive into
the oceans of the mind
without a map.
Without a prayer to even understand
the future of each day
and train our desires;
taming one by one this avalanche
that aims to put an end to the word.

 We no longer name things.
We only add up the delusions
of emotions that accumulate
in the nothingness, from nothingness, from nothingness.

Here we are
harassing each other;
converted into wireless democrats,
deaf to the point of bursting,
without knowing what for.

The criminals are filled with pride.
We’ve invited them to the table,
they’ve made the table their own.

Where have they come from?
They lived among us.
Within us.
They are us;
this terror that dwells in and hides
the ancient heart of things
that gave us life.

More love please.  Mexico.  (Photo by MCML ➖XXXIII on Unsplash.)

About the Author:
Dr. Tomás Calvillo Unna is a writer, historian, and social anthropologist from San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
He is the author of many academic articles and books of poetry and verse.

Dr. Calvillo formerly served as his country’s ambassador to the Philippines and Micronesian states.

His current focus is the forgotten history between two former Spanish colonies: Mexico and the Philippines.


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