Translated from Spanish by Fredy Roncalla, Juan G. Sánchez Martínez,
Felipe Q. Quintanilla and Sophie Lavoie

Battle of people
that the whole world ignores
the leaders turn their backs on it
make obscene faces
they shrug their shoulders
as if it were something for border dwellers
crazy aristocrats
the battle that no one will be able to live through
in the not too distant future

The battle of terror
grabs us and stabs us in the back
spits us out from its mouth
kicks us shoot us
gases us electrocutes us
with colicky stamens

the names of the martyrs are not included in any national history
they are in the human soul
in the reptilian media’s classified archive
it has been many moons since the battle began
moons that ferment in the belly of the world

it’s the beginning of the end
nobody cares
as if you were told that your house will burn down just around the corner
and the corner is at the end of the world
and right now it’s the end of the world

​​rivers grasses fish birds swamps
the battle with small giant monsters foldable unfoldable
it ripens overnight and we are losing everyday

clear water who comes down from the glaciers
illuminate my eyes
clear water who comes down from the glaciers
illuminate my soul
ferns bow their heads to the wind
oil spilled ports’ cheeks blush

the battle where the word neighbor collapses cell by cell
the neighbor sows lead mercury acids of all types

the neighbor does not act as anyone’s neighbor
we sail islands of plastic radioactive halos towards Orion
our real neighbors are fish trees moss lichens
ialela and krill
we see ourselves in them
the rest are just money-making machines matter of death
they eat gold they drink gold they dream of gold
their souls stink

they keep gold not knowing for whom
the word accumulation is a key a lockpick a prison a trap
a number
human’s addiction
I have the sun in my throat
the Milky Way in my hands
humans accumulate
with their laws trafficked by ministers
briefcases for presidents congressmen secretaries
to kill all species

water who springs from the eyes of the earth
lift our spirit
water that springs from the eyes of the earth
speak and dream with us
no mammal brings destruction to her own environment
only managers CEOs boards of directors
oceans where death sits down to dine
forests strewn with corpses
the keyboard of life collapses
a wave of sand rises
water goes away like life

fallacious your dream
fallacious
any architecture if music is absent from the water spring
survival turns on the scale of doubt
the pendulum runs out in its own movement
the square is missing one of its angles
a red bird with its fiery plumage nests in the circle’s axis
intelligence has been used in the opposite direction

humankind has lost its divine self
has lost itself
merchants are empty
the cruel mirror hides their true image every morning
they lie in their houses in front of their children
until they remove their masks
and their wives and children get in gear
in the name of wealth comfort prestige
the power of free market
someone tries to make us believe that this is in the name of the country’s future
someone pops up in the screen speaking in everyone’s name

loggers miners oil companies
the city-factories set up on pirate ships
eating the sea
with their metallic snouts
blood of children food for imaginary monsters
scriptwriters imagine them on another planet while it is happening here
women scratch their sterile wombs
it’s time
maybe there is still something beyond hope
suicidal whales might appear between your sheets some weekend

blue water planet
placenta of the sky
sea’s blubber from which life emerged
Wirakocha
foreign beings emerged to murder you in the name of minerals
to slice your neck as if you were the sweetest animal

give us your blessing elder of water elder of earth
man or woman who defends water
hold yourself

hold on the navel of time
lit by the light of stars fish glide over your transparency
earth hieroglyphics unearthed night after night
in walls of blood

man or woman with an Original Instruction in the name of water
give us your strength
give us your eyes

what will you do with your life in the days of thirst city folk
when it’s time to open the books of salt
woman of the plains woman of the mountains
child of the deserts freshly painted with the moon on its forehead
great lightning eye chief deep in the mountains
great medicine man follower of the vegetal mother
teacher who swims toward the islands
agronomist who has lost the hat of the dreams
what are you going to do at this hour

you the irascible one
and you who are the soul of god
in the great battle for water
in the great mirror that breaks at day’s midpoint
everything you know will change

devil’s advocate lord of the laws that swing like doors
accountant who cooks the books
you’ve been caught red-handed
with a gash in your brain
we know your incurable illness
the dollar
your back is painted with whitewash
lonely serpent eye whistling to the sun at noon

we have to stop the Dark One the King Midas
breathing in the center of an ocean of shit herpes sand
the winds of the future are blowing without mercy

delicious flowing water
give us some perspective
give us the vitality for a precise action
to be able to pronounce your exact name
the time of the salt is approaching
that of the great salt blizzards
criminals’ corpses spread out like cheap jewelry
hanging to dry by their feet in the dust
in the wind
the planet has been slaughtered
the clumsy boast of their victory

precious love
I want to hear your voice
I want to see your hands
your naked breast your chest of water
lightning in the sky
the planets might be touched
the glaciers adorned again in their sparkling robes
the streams of oxygen imbued with life givers
running in full health
glowing a child’s tinkling laugh
in the mind’s cosmic hour