Adult Spanish Division - Honorable Mentions:
Sidney Colon (Springfield) - "Futuro y Libertad"
Daniel Morrissey (Springfield) - "El Mar"
Futuro y Libertad
Acaba de entrar Un Ano Nuevo...
y tras rejas y paredes estoy!
Mi futuro y libertad extrano…
Donde quiéea por esta Cárcel voy!
Cumpliendo una condena estoy…
A mi familia y amigos he perdído!
Mis ruegos y llantos al Cielo le doy…
Por volver a ver a mis seres queridos!
De rodillas le pido al Señor…
Que mis pecados y malicia me perdone!
Que su espiritu grandioso me de su Calor…
Y que su amor por mi el me implore!
Arrepentido estoy por toda la maldad…
Que en mi pasado Yo he cometido!
Que por mi Futuro y mi Libertad…
A Dios le sere yo agradecido!
Pero la fé de dios me protege…
Con la fuerza mental sobrevivo!
Dia por dia cento el tiempo…
Que tras rejas y paredes estoy metido!
Es muy dificil entender la verdád…
Las reaones que aqui me han metido!
Que mucho tiene que ver el amigo…
Por perder mi futuro y Libertad!
Future and Freedom
A new year has just started
And I am behind fences and walls!
I miss my Future and Freedom...
Wherever I walk in this jail!
I am finishing my sentence…
I’ve lost my family and my friends!
I’d give my pleas and tears to Heaven
To see my loved ones again!
On my knees I implore the Lord...
To forgive my sins and badness!
That the great spirit grant me his comfort…
And bestow his love upon me!
I am repentant for all the badness...
That I have committed in my past!
That for my Future and my Freedom
I will be thankful to God!
But the faith in God protects me...
With mental strength I survive!
Day by day I count the passing of time
That I am committed behind fences and walls!
It is very difficult to understand the truth...
The reasons that brought me here!
That a lot has to do with the friend...
To lose my Future and my Freedom!
Sidney Colon composed this poem while incarcerated in Ludlow.
He now lives in Springfield.
El mar
Nunca lo has entendido
Pero tu cabello lo es
Desde la cima de tu frente, corriendo hacia abajo
fluyen como arroyos tus flequillos,
tus mechones como rios,
todo uniendo en el mar que es tu cuerpo
Nunca lo has visto,
pero lo veo en tu mirada.
ojitos negros y oscuros, de coral y de piedra,
Secretos guardados; presente estás
en el pórtico de nuevas tierras.
Quiero tocar el suelo de tu alma.
Tengo miedo, infantil de aguas profundas.
Mi bote en tu párpado inferior atraca
donde sol, luna y estrella eclipsa la negrura
de tu iris y donde la hora está guiada
de tu guiño que marca cuándo sea
noche y cuándo sea día.
Nunca su susurro ha tocado tu oido,
pero lo escucho,
en tus juicios y tus gustos, tu fonética, tu sonido
tu voseo y yeísmo, resuelves el misterio
de como se puede escuchar el mar entero en una concha,
estás presente en cada una, el mar en mi oreja.
Nunca lo has probado,
pero yo sí, la sal de tus mejillas:
piel blanca, pura, polvo de conchas;
pedazitos de vidrio que reflejan
el sol configurado perfectamente en tu cara.
Castillos que yo trataba de
construir, tus aguas que borran
mis intentos de la orilla.
Nunca lo has vivido,
pero como él, me quitas el respiro.
Aire, esencia, sustento sin que sofoco.
Brisa, belleza, brillante, cama de descanso:
almohada de dunas, mi cabeza de sueños en tus senos,
mi ser en tu refugio.
Nunca lo has navegado,
pero yo sí cuando floto en tu abrazo.
Perdido en ti, no perdido, cómodo, me marea,
borracho, guardando sabores, un pirata, el tesoro que cuida;
Barco de tus brazos, bandera encima que ondea,
declarando por ti mi patria, mi Helena.
Para ti, mi paz, valdría la guerra.
Nunca tus pies se han metido en la caliente arena,
pero me ha calentado tu presencia.
Escondido quiero estar en la arena de tu playa:
aunque caliente encima, tu defensa y belleza,
entro con pasión en tu piel con mi pala,
y debajo de la superficie humilde y templada,
descubro, cada vez que cavo suficiente profundo, una ojeada de tu alma,
de tu centro, un charco de misterio en cada
de los miles huecos que hago en tu orilla
Nunca una ola te ha caído,
pero la tuya me ha despertado.
Dormido estaba, frio y solo.
Me cautivas, el refugio de tu remolque, un holgazán
rescatado de la soledad ancha en aguas anchas.
Cristo me apagó el hambre, mientras
tus corrientes me han llevado a tierra sólida.
Miedo de fugacidad y sediento a culpa de esta vida,
tus gotas plenitudes, mis poros impermeables ahora
permeables, fluyes por mi, en mi, boyante soy y seguro
en tus aguas, ahogando
en tu
inexplicable.
Ni fuego, ni tierra, ni aire me pueden tocar.
En ti estás presente.
Tú eres el mar.
Nunca has visto las estelas que desaparecen tras los botes,
como yo de tu memoria después de que me marche.
The Sea
Never have you understood it,
but your hair captures it.
From the acme of your forehead, running downward,
your bangs flow like streams,
your locks like rivers,
all uniting in the sea, your body.
Never have you seen it,
but I see it in your look:
little, dark, black eyes, of coral and of rock;
Kept secrets; you are present
in the gateway to new lands.
I want to touch the floor of your soul.
I am scared, an infant in deep waters.
My boat docks on your lower eyelid
where sun, moon and stars eclipse the blackness
of your iris and where time is guided
by your blinking which marks
both night and day.
Never has its whisper touched your ears,
but I hear it
in your opinions and your likes, your phonetic, your sound
your voseo and yeísmo, you resolve the mystery
of how one can hear the entire ocean in a shell.
You are present in each one, the ocean in my ear.
Never have you tasted it,
but I have, the salt of your cheeks.
White skin, pure, shell dust,
little pieces of glass that reflect
the sun configured perfectly on your face.
Castles that I tried
to make; your waters that erase
my intentions from the shore.
Never have you experienced it,
but like it, you take away my breath.
Air, essence, sustenance without which I suffocate.
Breeze, beauty, brilliant, bed of rest,
pillow of dunes, my dreamy head on your chest
My being in your refuge.
Never have you navigated it,
but I have when I float in your embrace.
Lost in you, not lost, comfortable, I’m dizzy,
drunken, savoring flavors, a pirate, the treasure that I guard,
the ship of your arms, the flag that waves on high
declaring my allegiance to you, my Helen.
For you, my peace, the war would be worth it.
Never have your feet burrowed in the hot sand,
but your presence has warmed me.
Hidden I want to be in the sand of your beaches,
even though hot on the surface, your defense and beauty,
I enter with passion in your skin with my shovel,
and below the humble and temperate surface
I discover, each time I dig deep enough, a glimpse of your soul,
of your center, a puddle of mystery in each
of the thousand holes that I make in your shore.
Never has a waved crashed on you,
but your wave has awakened me.
I was asleep, cold and alone.
You captivated me, the refuge of your undertow, a drifter,
rescued from great loneliness in great waters,
Christ satisfied my hunger, while
your currents have taken me to solid ground
Fear of fleeting time and thirsty from this life
your plentiful drops, my impermeable pores
now permeable, you flow through me, in me, I am buoyant and certain
in your waters, drowning
in your
inexplicable.
Not fire, nor land, nor air can touch me.
In you are you present
You are the sea.
Never have you seen the wakes that disappear behind each boat,
just like me from your memory after I leave.
Born and raised in Springfield, Daniel teaches Spanish and Political Science at SABIS International Charter School. A graduate of UMASS-Amherst, he is now in his third year at Western New England College School of Law and, during the summer, pursues a master’s degree in Spanish at Middlebury College Language School. Daniel loves to travel and this summer he will study on exchange at la Universidad de Guadalajarra in Mexico.
