no es el momento para los corazones timidos: this is no time for timid hearts

In August, German-born, English-passported, self-identified new Peruvian gringa and poem faery Rose Mary Boehm sent me this message:

 “I received your URL from a friend in London. We are on the same wavelength as you. I immediately read what you had to say and was keen to be a part of the beautiful enterprise. But after reading how this is to be carried out I have two very important doubts of a rather more mundane nature: In Peru most mail that’s not as thin as a letter ‘disappears’ at the post office. In Peru they speak Spanish.”

Yet another opportunity to drop my notions on how the Words Divinely Wrought global poetry-share was “supposed” to unfold. No hand-stamping each page with my chop, gently blowing the ink dry, and lovingly inserting the poem into a hand-addressed white envelope. Instead of sending a package to Peru, I sent three poems in an email. Rose Mary translated the poems into Spanish, sent them out for editorial tweaking, downloaded the typefaces used on the original poems, printed the new versions on tasty paper, and let them fly.

“Well, Rachel, the first one is out there on its own. I left it in the winding green that covers most of our rocks – wherever rock or bad earth has to be covered they put this rather beautiful bind-weed which clings to everything and doesn’t need much water. I had other plans, but somehow they were thwarted. More than likely for a reason…

“This part of Lima is called Miraflores (See-the-flowers). It’s one of the areas bordering the Pacific. Once upon a time Lima looked inward – away from the sea. Out here were spas where you went with your kids in the summer. Now they are thriving living areas. The brown labyrinthian small-hedge design represents one of the Nazca lines – the monkey, whose tail has also been incorporated in the new Peru logo…

“There are quite a few parks along the sea here, each one with a different name, in honor of different people…This one is dedicated to Maria Reiche (1903–1998), a German mathematician, archaeologist, and technical translator noted for her research on the Nazca Lines in Peru… (Due to) her preservation efforts, the Nazca Lines were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.

“So, the first of your beautiful poems was left in the greenery of the Maria Reiche park. I didn’t dare to prop it up on one of the benches in the photos. They are too close to the edge and there is always a breeze.

“The second one has by now been placed in the lift of a huge apartment building where many people are going in and out all the time. I left it there when I visited my mother-in-law with a big bowl of pasta for lunch. It could have been a large hotel. The universe will know how to make the right connection happen.

“The third one still hangs around, shy, wondering where it should go.

“I had the three poems in a paper bag and pulled one out blind. It’s the ‘no time for timid hearts.’ In the photo you can barely make out the printing, but you see it a little. Let’s see whether a jogger picks it up? I added my secret e-mail on the Spanish version, just in case.”

Here is the Spanish version of “no time for timid hearts.” The English version can be seen here, as it first appeared on this site in August 2010.

No es el momento para los corazones tímidos,
Para retener tus obsequios más preciosos
enfrente del miedo a las represalias,
Atascándote en un umbral mientras te preguntas si eres digno de entrar,
Sentándote interminablemente en una valla cuyo único propósito
es separarte de tu propio ser
No es el momento.

No es el momento de pronunciar cualquier cosa desde
un lugar de observación enrarecido,
O para dejarte llevar, impulsado por ni objetivo ni intención,
Para permitir que la vida viva por ti alegremente mientras tú renuncias
a tu patrimonio del libre albedrío,
Para aprobar culpa y obligación mientras dominan
tus deseos más fervientes,
No es el momento.

No es el momento para equivocaciones, cobertura y apostasía,
Para lloriquear, y denunciar todo lo que has creado,
Para pretender de ser víctima de cualquier depredador,
ya sea real o ilusorio,
Para abdicar a la responsabilidad personal frente
a una preponderancia de evidencia,
Si alguna vez hubo un tiempo, no es ahora.

Para la franca declaración de tus verdades más profundas,
Este es el momento.
Para mantenerte firme para defender causas justas,
Este es el momento.
Para el fomento de la libertad pura que resuena
por encima del chirrido de la política y posturas,
Para inaugurar nuevos caminos de evolución sostenible,
levantando una mano tras otra,
Para redimir sin vacilar la maravilla que creías haber perdido para siempre,
Esto, ahora, es el momento.

No es el momento para tragar el anzuelo de los buitres que trafican con el miedo,
Para retener las emanaciones de tu frágil corazón,
Para almacenar las floraciones suculentas de tu alma,
Para lanzar el bumerán del juicio o de la culpabilidad a los demás
Por si vuelva a su legítimo propietario,
Este no es el momento.

Si alguna vez has añorado desatar tus pasiones,
Sentiste ansia por ser exponencialmente más
de lo que te has atrevido ser,
Tenías hambre por una humanidad mejor, dentro y fuera,
Anhelabas una conexión que desafíe
los llamados límites de tiempo y espacio,
Y si has sabido para toda la eternidad
que habías nacido para ser el Amor,

Hoy,
Ahora mismo,
Es el momento.