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Featured Author: Elicura Chihuailaf

The Water of Life

  • by Elicura Chihuailaf

Itrofill mogen

May, ¿iney feyentulayafuy?
pigeken: Ti Ko  fey ta  Mogen
¿Welu chem kam ta ko
mvlenole Kvrvf?
¿Welu chumkey ti Kvrvf
ka ti Ko mvlenole Mapu?
¿Welu chumkey ta Mapu
mvlenole  ti Kvtral?
¿Welu chumkey ta kvtral
mvlenole ta Antv?
¿Welu chumkey ta  Antv
mvlenole Kvyen ñi trufken?
¿Welu chumkey ta Kvyen
mvlenole ta Ñikvf ñi vl?
¿Welu chumkey ti ñikvf
mvlenole chi Azkintun?
¿Welu chumkey ta azkintun
mvlenole  ta  Zugun?
¿Welu chumkey ta Zugun
mvlenole ta Mogen ñi neyen?
¿Welu chi Itrofill ñi neyen
mvlenole Mogen tañi Ko?*

 

*Freneaen, eymi amulñifige tvfachi vlkantun:
Ragintu ta chi  kileen chi mawiza mew
Chi  liwen mvlfen mew
Inaltu ta ti kiñeke witrunko mew
lewfv, trayenko, lafken
Azkintulen chi fvtrake wampu konwe
antv mew ti fvtralafken mew
ka ti kvtran kvrvf chi antv mew…
Chi wente wigkul pun mew ka welun zugu
ta rakizuam mew ta peyepeyemvn mew.

 

 

The Water of Life
(Biodiversity, Reciprocity)

Yes, who can doubt it?
They tell me: Water is Life
But what does Water do
without the Air?
But what can the Air
and Water do without the Earth?
But what does the Earth do
without the Fire?
But what does the Fire do
without the Sun?
But what does the Sun do
without the ashes of the Moon?
But what does the Moon do
without the song of Silence?
But what does silence do
without Contemplation?
But what does Contemplation do
without the Word?
But what does the Word do
without the breath of Nature?
But what does Nature do
without the Water of Life? *

 

* Please, do continue this poem:
In the middle of the last forests
In the early morning dew
On the shores of the dwindling rivers
waterfalls, lakes
Looking at the boats on the horizon
of the sea
and in the polluted air of the day …
On the nocturnal and most delirious
summit of imagination.

Translated by Camila Yver

  • Elicura Chihuailaf

Photo: Gonzalo Donoso

Elicura Chihuailaf is a definitive voice of contemporary Mapuche poetry. He writes in both Mapuzugun and Spanish, and he has translated works by other poets, such as Pablo Neruda, into Mapuzugun. His published works include En el país de la memoria (1988), El invierno, su imagen y otros poemas azules (1991), and De sueños azules y contrasueños (1995), Recado confidencial a los chilenos (1999), Kallfv (2006), A orillas de un sueño azul (2010), La vida es una nube azul (2019), and El azul del tiempo que nos sueña (2020). In 2020, he was awarded the National Literature Prize of Chile, becoming the first Mapuche writer to receive this honor. He has been referred to as the lonko, or headman, of present-day Mapuche poetry.

  • Camila Yver
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