Chayna purisqaypim
saykusqa…
Qunqaymanta
sapallay kasqayta unanchakuykuni.
Llaqtaymanta sapay
aylluymanta sapay
mama simiymanta sapallay.
“Pachaqa awqamanmi tikrakunman
sichus llapa ima riqsisqanchik
chinkaptin” ukuypaq nini.
Hinaptin huk llampu sunqu
quñi pukruchuta qawaykachiwan…
Chaypis ñakayniyta samaykachiyman.
Huk llaqtaman mitmayqa,
huk simiman hapipakuspa
yapamanta paqarispa rimay qallaykuymi.
Chaynaspapas, astawan mama simiman
astawan ayllu llaqtaman sunquchakuymi.
“Yuyayniy tuta utiruptin
qam kasqaytahina
ñuqa kasqaykitahina
rikchapakuwan.”
Hinaptin makiykiwan haywakuni.
Hinaptin makillaywan chaskikunki.
Huk llakilla, huk pinqaylla, huk runalla.
Chaypis takiyman wischukuykunchik:
“Vidallay vida
suertellay suerte…
Kristal vasuchahina
chullalla vida…
Kristal vasuchahina
chullalla suerte…”
You see nothing more than two-hundred animals,
identical.
Yet I can recognize each by her laughter.
And yes of course they laugh.
They intertwine their necks with the wind and they dance.
In the desolate, forbidding mountains
on the dark and silent paths
daily we walk together
sometimes they, sometimes I,
lead the march.
Like Bach’s sorrowful hymns
they dissipate…
Sometimes swiftly, sometimes placidly
until upon us, the night descends.
And when the appointed day arrives
to Mother Earth I shall express my gratitude
to my dear animal, my appreciation,
and I will slaughter her.
I won’t waste a single drop of her blood…
Only we know of this exhortation
Only we know who we are
and although we shall cry knowing all of this, so shall we rejoice.
In the silent, distant meadows,
I am a herder.
Oh mallow root, mallow root
across these windswept heights,
my lover roams
Once young,
the sun was on the rise
and now,
the sun descends
The clouds advance, the winds they swell
The people come, from sorrows they come
With the rains they come, with the winds they come
and thus, for you, they come
Across the sapphire river, across the Pukara plain
In search of you I shall
walk on, and so, walk on
Near here, chikaylla you might come
So far, karumanta, you can’t wish to flee
Could that be you, just there
behind me?
and me here still searching
for you
And I will go down river
And I will go upriver
Where my love shall I find you?
Traversing the pampas of Oruro
crossing Bolivia
searching,
gathering just dahlias
weeping,
walking
I shall leave Oruro now
my woven aguayo
lost
carrying cloth for all things
what reason to remain?
And high above, Condor
soars
his white shawl tightly tied
above sacred Illimani’s peak
he ascends
Where is it now he is off to?
And so you are my only
And so I am yours only
And so we shall be together
weeping
on
I shall steal you away, leading you
Within my heart, leading you
away…
