They were brave men
but confused.
They disobeyed orders at Santa Rita
and at Lagunas de Varona.
These servants come from the same stock.
They treat us as they might have treated
those who wanted to take the war
to the other end of the Island.
I go back to the concept of nation.
I try to remember what Hermann Hesse said:
The word nation limits us
if we don’t understand
there is only one nation:
Mother Earth.
I try to remember
but can’t
if Hermann Hesse said
Universe or Mother Earth.
Translated by Margaret Randall
Originally published in World Literature Today 89, no. 5 (September 2015).
