Translator: TED Translators admin Reviewer: Denise RQ
I come armed with love to sing and work
on the building of the morning.
Love gives all it has.
I share my hope
and plant the light of the new green to come.
One day, almost spring in Chile,
the Andes were on fire.
They tried to silence my friendly heart,
but I crossed the fire,
and I still sing publicly.
I have no new path,
but have a new way of walking.
But from the pain of the disinherited,
and the dark dreams of a hungry child,
I learned that the world isn't only mine;
but that what really matters,
before it's too late,
is to work on what needs to change,
each in his or her time and place.
(Applause)
When I came here,
after a long wait downstairs,
no one picked me up, I came by Barbara's hand,
and Nelida from Peru was dancing,
her singing, and Luis' talking,
a brother from Peru, of the Amazon and of hope,
they made my Latin American heart beat faster.
And when he showed Gabriel,
I remembered when Gabriel first came here,
with his Mercedes, here in the Andira river forest,
then I, the translator of Cesar Vallejo's work,
felt that here we are also working
for the cultural integration of the Latin American people.
(Applause)
What is the environment?
It's a house, too big already.
It’s beautiful name is Earth.
Nature's sky and ground.
Mother of shadow, splendor,
dew, and storm.
She is Gaia of the Greek myth.
It's no secret that Earth is a living being, too.
Her most powerful creation,
an infinite resource,
her glory and feast is having planted the forest
in the vast Amazon.
From the mass of beings
born in the forest,
her favorite, the only one
with the capacity to wonder and choose,
the greed of the human,
transformed him into an impious and fierce animal.
The inhuman human
who cut her womb
with a blade poisoned
with gas, fire, and ingratitude.
But Earth is a real mother.
Burned, but compassionate,
stays faithful and good,
which is her destiny and her gift.
She loves you and offers her hand.
From her burning core,
from the flowers with no petals,
from the wings of mad birds,
when night falls
- pay attention, listen -
a harrowing clamor rises.
It's not the monkeys screaming,
nor the jaguar roaring,
nor the Curupira singing.
It's the forest asking for help.
The forest is your house,
take good care of it, with a lot of love.
I'll read to you--
share some fragments of this poem
which is no longer mine,
since it was translated to over 30 languages,
kept alive by many hopes and voices,
and by much pain, too.
I’ll speak Spanish, because it’s Pablo Neruda's translation.
It is decreed that now there be only truth,
that life is what counts and together,
we'll work towards the true life
It is decreed that from now on,
man will never need to doubt man.
Man will trust man, as a palm tree trusts the wind,
as the wind trusts the air, as the air trusts the blue sky.
Sole paragraph:
man will trust man,
as a boy trusts another boy.
It's decreed that man is an animal that loves,
and so is more beautiful,
than a morning star.
It is decreed--
I'll interrupt Neruda,
because the statutes article was written,
and it started by decreeing
that money won't buy the dawns to come.
I remember that yesterday
the Brazilian Historical Heritage Institute
declared the Meeting of the Waters forever protected.
The rich wanted to build
a large port.
But the power of the people
is stronger than the power of money,
and so it is decreed
that money will never buy the Sun of the mornings to come.
Removed from a place of fear,
money will turn into a fraternal sword
defending the right to sing
and welcome the mornings of the future.
In conclusion,
the word freedom is forbidden,
it will be removed from the dictionaries
and from deceitful voices.
From now on,
freedom will be alive and clear as fire,
as a river, or seeds of wheat,
and its home will be the heart of man.
Thank you.
(Applause)
I'd like to leave you a message.
You see me and know
that I've turned 40 years old twice
(Laughter)
but I'm working much more than
when I turned 40 the first time,
and even so I'm getting younger
in my second 40 years,
and my hope makes me believe
in the building of a human society based on solidarity.
Thank you.
(Applause)