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Issue 39
Indigenous Literature

“The Rain’s Heart Is Disturbed”

  • by Gloria Cáceres Vargas
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  • September, 2026

Parapa sunqun tapsikun 

Parapa sunqun tapsikun
chillikukuna mana usyaq
llakinta takiptinku.
Parapa sunqun llakikun
pisqukuna qasikayta maskaspa
ripuptinku. 

Parapa sunqun upallakun
timpupa marqankuna
mana llakikuspa muyuykachaptinku.
Parapa sunqun kusikun
killa hunt’api mana samaspa
tusuptinchik. 

Ñuqataq, parapa sunqun kayta munani
qamwan musqukunaypaq. 

 

El corazón de la lluvia se agita

El corazón de la lluvia se agita
cuando los grillos cantan
su infinita desesperanza.
El corazón de la lluvia se inquieta
cuando las aves migran
en busca de paz.

El corazón de la lluvia enmudece
cuando los brazos del tiempo
giran sin piedad.
El corazón de la lluvia se alegra
cuando en noches de luna plena
danzamos sin descansar.

Y yo, quiero ser el corazón de la lluvia
para soñarte.


Auto-traducción de Gloria Cáceres Vargas

 

The rain’s heart is disturbed

The rain’s heart is disturbed
when the crickets sing
its immense agony.
The rain’s heart gets nervous
when the birds migrate
looking for peace.

The rain’s heart falls silent
when time’s arms
spin cruelly.
The rain’s heart rejoices
when on nights of a full moon
we dance without rest.

And I want to be the rain’s heart
to dream about you.

 

Translated by Almendra Blanco

 

From Musqu awaqlla: Tejedora de sueños (Pakarina Ediciones, 2021)

 

Buy books by the authors and translators featured in this issue on our Bookshop page!

 

Photo: Tim Hart, Unsplash.
  • Gloria Cáceres Vargas

Gloria Cáceres Vargas (Ayacucho, 1947) has published the books Riqsinakusun (Conozcámonos, 1996), Munakuwaptiykiqa (Si tú me quisieras, 2009), Wiñay suyasqayki (Te esperaré siempre, 2010), andYuyaypa K’anchaqnin (Fulgor de mis recuerdos, 2015). She also translated two short stories by José María Arguedas from Spanish to Quechua: “Hijo solo” and “Warma Kuyay” (2011). She was Dean of the Program of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Universidad Nacional de Educación “Enrique Guzmán y Valle”–Chosica. She has taught classes on Quechua and Spanish at a variety of institutions in Peru and France, such as the Instituto Nacional de Lengua y Civilizaciones Orientales–INALCO, the Nouvelle Sorbone, and so on. Between 2008 and 2009, she worked in the Dirección de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe (Ministry of Culture, Peru).

  • Almendra Blanco Zárate

Almendra Blanco Zárate holds a bachelor’s degree in Creative Literature from the Universidad Diego Portales, Chile, and a diploma in Literary Translation from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Her primary interest is literary translation, although she enjoys exploring different areas of literature and translation. She is particularly interested in staying informed about developments in the publishing industry and continuously expanding her knowledge of editorial and translation practices.

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