Nana para un niño indígena
Ismael Serrano
Lullaby for an Indigenous Child
Sleep my sky,
my eternal child, owner of the world,
my heart.
You will wake up and the long night will be over
and its terror.
The light will come and the dawn will rest on your lips
the hope that the indigenous peoples dream of.
Dream Pichiche,
about the meadows where the apple tree
has already bloomed,
in that land where the Huinca learns
our loves, the ones he forgot.
There he will understand that your people want to break
the fences that close the path to Peumayen.
Sleep, my little one,
that in the country you go to sleep in
the true history is written by the defeated
Do not fear waking up,
for the light that filters through the sieve of your dreams
illuminates this night and cleans the sky of the world.
Sleep and let your dream guard the future.
Sleep my wawa,
Pachamama kisses your forehead and inside her
she keeps her black and volatile gold, to offer it to you, my love.
Sleep, for a dream will save us from so much oblivion,
and will scare away the eagle that stalks the wounded puma.
Sweet paal,
sleep peacefully, for here in the jungle will not arrive
the monster with steel teeth, resentment and scales and its martial law,
that in the afternoon a messenger arrived with a balaclava
saying he will bring music and flowers in the morning.
Sleep, my little one,
that in the country you go to sleep in
the true history is written by the defeated
Do not fear waking up,
for the light that filters through the sieve of your dreams
illuminates this night and cleans the sky of the world.
Sleep and let your dream guard the future.
- Pichiche: Child in Mapuche (indigenous people of the southern cone).
- Huinca: White man in Mapuche (although originally it was a term to refer to cattle thieves).
- Peumayen: Dreamed place in Mapuche.
- Wawa: Child in Quechua and Aymara.
- Pachamama: Mother Earth in Quechua.
- Paal: Little child in Lacandon Maya.
