En Mi Tierra

I feel like I'm in my land
salt clay sand and water
sun landscape nerve life
flight legend and vidala

I hear the remote voices
of the legendary jungle
when in the wind and the air
the Quichua goblins embody

I feel foam in my river
time grown in its waters
solitude of mountain and stone
in my mountain stillness

And here I am in my Santiago
nourishing myself with its wisdom
under the scorching suns
burning my back

In the landscape I am a song
of chalchaleros at dawn
flute of thrushes and blackbirds
greeting the mornings

And from my carob forest
with the flower of the air in the branches
and mist and thirst and saltpeter
where my land is bitter

Sad lullaby of the urpila
filling the long siestas
and flight of the partridges
when the evenings fade

And here I am in my Santiago
nourishing myself with its wisdom
under the vidalero disc
of the late-night moons