Habana

Jorge Enrique Gonzalez Pacheco

Podrás detener mis suspiros de soledad
si anidas el ansia en este mar frágil?
Tu calle reposa la ternura, envejece,
ascuas del viento la arropan
y nombran en lo recóndito
al fuego anclado en tus colores.
 
Habana,
lúcida eres, sombra que retorna jardín
en infinito desvelo
para abrigar el alba.
Palpitas única,
única todas las razones,
marcan el paso, frescor,
acuarela tus ventanales.
Giraldilla, pregón, misterio,
voz casta en quietas premuras.
Consagro tu vitral,
lo palpo capiteles barrocos,
polvorientos, destejidos.
Deseo conversar:
juego, iris, amor,
gentes, bullicios, autos;
escritos sobre los sabores.
Extasía un rumor,
tu arboleda danza desnudo acierto:
parque, nube, verano, Dios.
Ámbito hiere la clave,
letanía concurre a las músicas
cuando estrellas anidan tu cántico huraño.
 
Lejos... sangre llama tus pasiones,
languidece, nadie la edifica
allí en morada ausente de tu sol y tu luna.
Vienen a mí los esquineros,
municipios contiguos, alcobas trémulas.
Busco ahora en ti amiga ciudad,
aquel hogar, La Catedral,
niñez, carne de cemento,
madre tras un beso al adiós:
sostiene mis venerados pretéritos.
 
 
HABANA
 
Could you contain my sighs of solitude
by harboring the anxiety in this fragile sea?
On your streets lies the tenderness, aging,
incandescent wind shelters and recalls
them in the distance
the flame anchored in your colors.
 
Habana,
Lucid, shadowed reminiscent garden
in an infinite insomnia
harnessing the dawn.
Throbbing uniquely,
uniquely understanding,
following the beat, freshness,
watercolor eyes of the city.
Giraldilla, proclamation, mystery,
chaste voice in a calm urge.
I consecrate your vitreaux,
sensing your baroque capitals,
Dusty, unraveled.
I'd like to talk:
Game, rainbow, love,
People, noise, cars;
Essays on flavors.
A captivated rumor,
your arbor dances a naked certainty:
A park, a cloud, summer, God.
The boundary hurts the clef,
the litany resorts to music,
when the stars nurse your elusive chant.
 
Far… blood calls for your passion,
Languishing, nobody edifies it,
in the absent dwelling of your sun, your moon.
The corner dwellers come to my mind,
the adjacent towns, trembling bedrooms.
I seek within you, dear city,
that home, The Cathedral,
that childhood, concrete flesh,
mother's kiss fading goodbye:
upholds my venerated memories.

The Giraldilla is a famous symbol of Havana. It is a female figure used as a weathervane on the watchtower of the castle at Havana's harbour. The Giraldilla is based on the figure on top of the famous Giralda belltower in Seville, Spain.

The original Giraldilla is now in Havana's City Museum. The watchtower in Havana is crowned by a copy.

Poetry Atlas has a number of poems about Havana, Cuba.

This poem is from Jorge Enrique Gonzalez Pacheco's collection Bajo la luz de mi sangre / Under the Light of my Blood.


Main Location:

La Giraldilla, Castillo de la Real Fuerza, Havana, Cuba


Other locations:

The Watchtower of the Castillo de la Real Fuerza, Havana, Cuba