Cuba Liberándose
15 Repetitiones de Marti, Raul Martines, 1966,
Museo nacional de Bellas Artes de Cuba
In the streets of Havana
awaits a magnificent manana
across a perilous pathway
studded with unknowns and uncertainties
that might make even the most indomitable community
stay stuck in an unsustainable past
knowing this reality better than any other
seeking to protect families and livelihoods
from the dragons of change
But change there will be
It will not come incrementally
nor fairly
It will come abruptly
in chaos
and soon
as sure as the sun will keep on rising
over the next hundred million years
a new day is on the march
Too many lost at sea
too many languishing in prisons
too many convenient accidents
too much violence cutting down hopes
suffocating the trajectory of change
trying to make people believe
what has always been will always be
even if history tells another tale
but all this will now be cradled by a different wind
Cuba’s future raises
a plea to its leaders
a call to its opposition
an appeal to its folk
to seek wisdom, moderation and compassion
May wide-mindedness guide your actions
May you remember the inequalities that gave rise to 1959
May you take wisdom from other transitions
May you give life to the revolution’s empty palabras
Cuba’s liberation is coming
as sure as tomorrow
there will be daybreak and dusk
What is not certain
what is not sure
is whether the Cubans
on this island and across the sea
will know how to rise to a challenge
so many others have failed
In the Havana of early 2017
the superstructure seems stabile
There are no outward signs of anything
moving under the system’s feet
But the revolution has lost its leader
and has nothing more to say
Now a victim of its own immobility
waiting for a direction to take shape
while continuing its dance of veils
Click here to read in Spanish
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