OPENLY
Florentino UlibarriI offer you, today, all that I am and have:
my life, my body and all my dreams,
my troubles, my doubts, my firm resolve,
my hope although it's wrapped in fear;
my pain because sometimes I want to but can't;
my embarrassment because at other times I can but won't.
My rebellious spirit and my intuition;
my untamed character, my stupid pride;
my irritation when I don't get what I want,
my fury at being discriminated,
in your name by the clerical laws
that your Word has gagged.
Here I am as you know and I am,
with the silence to my daily demands,
the irresponsibility of those in command,
justice that never arrives on time
and my parched throat which cries out,
like the female character of your parable.
Sometimes I criticise myself,
for not speaking what I should be shouting about,
for not shutting up fast enough about the things I am saying;
and at other times, I confront others and You
for how easy it is to forget that we are
brothers formed by your breath and your hand.
Together with my unease, for my weakness,
I offer you, Lord, my affection and my kisses,
the clearest, freshest and freest possessions that I have;
and I also offer you my satisfaction,
since inertia was never my companion
and it never stopped me from swimming upstream.
Maintaining my hopes - mad hopes, they say,
I hope, and I hope so many things,
that sometimes I ask myself if I'm not being over bold
at continuing to dream about the utopia
that you announced when you came to this earth
and I wonder if my breast can welcome your surprises.
But, in my debility and doubts, I am relieved, Lord
that you love me like that instead of when I am disillusioned or lukewarm.
(Translator's note: Florentino's original text in Spanish is in verse and very difficult to translate!)
Florentino Ulibarri
Traducción de Hugo Castelli