Five Haikus by Antonio Guzman Gomez
photo by Giovanni Apruzzese
Translated from the Maya Tseltal by Kiran Bhat
You open your eyes
and wake up the sun so that
a new day can start.
Wik’a asit
ya xojobaj talel k’aal,
ya sakub k’inal.
Abres tus ojos
y se levanta el sol,
despierta el d
Every morning
at the back of a mountain
the sun yawns awake.
Ta jujun sab,
ta yach’ te’tikil,
ya sjach’ ye te k’aale.
Cada mañana,
en su montaña nueva,
bosteza el sol.
The slow morning dawn
drains itself of light
then dies in the dusk.
Sakub k’inal,
K’un ya xbeen bael te xojobe,
ya xlaj ta smalel k’aal.
Amaneció,
lenta la luz se escurre,
muere en la tarde.
The boys are playing,
and the men are out working,
while life is dying.
Te ch’in keremetike ya xtajinik
te winiketike ya x-a’tejik,
te kuxlejale ya xlaj.
Los niños juegan
y los hombres trabajan,
la vida muere.
How it hurts my soul
to live like fire
in this world.
K’ux ya ka’y ta jch’ulel
yu’un te kuxulon bit’il k’ajk’
ta sba te lum k’inale.
Me duele el alma
de vivir como fuego
en este mundo.
About the author:
Antonio Guzman Gomez is one of the most promising, well-regarded poets of the Maya Tseltal community. As the contemporary literature of Maya Tseltal is still developing, he has chosen to write in the haiku form so traditions outside of the West can be part of his mother tongue's literary formation. These five haikus offer a cross-pollination between four linguistic cultures (Japanese, Maya Tseltal, Spanish, and English).
About the translator:
Kiran Bhat is an Indian-American traveller, polyglot, and author interested in creating spaces of cultural inquiry on a global scale. He is the author of the English-language story cycle, We of the Forsaken World (Iguana Books, 2020) as well as four books in other languages. His work has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Brooklyn Rail, Prairie Schooner,The Colorado Review, The Florida Review, 3AM Magazine, Eclectica, Waxwing,The Free State Review, Cha, The Mascara Literary Review, The Chakkar, and others . He currently live in Chiapas in Mexico, where he translating Maya Tsotsil, Tsetsal, and Ch'ol writing into English.
