Winds of the people carry me along
Wind of the people
Winds of the people carry me along,
winds of the people pull me along,
they sprinkle my heart about
and bring air to my throat.
Oxen bow down their brows,
impotent and meek,
when punished:
lions raise theirs
and at the same time they inflict punishment
with their clamorous claws.
I am not from a people of oxen,
I am from a people who embody
ancient settlements of lions,
high passes of eagles
and mountain ranges of bulls
bearing pride as their flag.
Oxen never prospered
on the barren plains of Spain.
Who said they would throw a yoke
round the neck of this race?
Who has ever yoked or hobbled
a hurricane,
or who has held lightning
prisoner in a cage?
Asturians of bravery,
Basques of reinforced stone,
Valencians of joy
and Castilians of soul,
worked like the earth
and with the grace of wings;
Andalusians of lightning
born amongst guitars
and forged on the
torrential anvils of tears;
Extremadurans of rye,
Galicians of rain and calm,
Catalans of firmness,
Aragonese of age-old caste,
Murcians of dynamite
planted like fruit trees,
Leonese, Navarrans, masters
of hunger, sweat and the axe,
kings of the mines,
lords of labour,
men who, amongst the roots,
like valiant roots yourselves,
go from life to death,
from nothing to nothing:
there are people who, like weeds,
want to put a yoke on you,
a yoke which you must leave
broken across their backs.
Twilight of the oxen
dawn is breaking.
Oxen die clothed
in humility and the smell of the stable:
eagles, lions
and bulls die clothed in pride,
and behind them, the sky
neither clouds over nor comes to an end.
The death-agony of oxen
has a small face,
that of the male animal
enlarges all of creation.
If I die, may I die
with my head held high.
Dead and twenty times dead,
my mouth against the wild grass,
I will have my teeth clenched
and my jaw resolute.
Singing I await death,
for there are nightingales that sing
above the guns
and in the midst of battles.