Friday, August 8, 2008

8/8/08

-
En el 8º día del 8º mes del 8º año del milenio


Hoy cada tirada de los dados
sale el mismo número
----4-4,
---------3-5,
--------------2-6,
-------------------1-7;
sobrenatural, misterioso
como una araña tocando las escalas.

Así le ha de haber parecido
a la gente en el arca
viendo los planetas rondar al sol
una vez que se despejaron los cielos,
juego de ajedrez ganado con la piezas menores.
En la Fiesta de las luces, el sumo sacerdote
con todas sus vestiduras, los fieles
arrastrando las borlas de sus chales,

escuchando los instrumentos
acompañando los salmos
lo reconocían, el número sagrado,
el sello de Salomón y de los profetas,
el día en que sus varones por primera vez
derramaron su sangre en primitivo sacrificio.
En estos tiempos oscuros
debemos recordar las beatitudes.

Y más que nunca descifrando los naipes
necesitamos tomar el de la fuerza,
hacer nuestras ofrendas a los iluminados.
Los inmortales chinos lo cuentan
el número de la prosperidad,
los rayos de la rueda de las estaciones,
----la infinidad rodando,
-----------------------------rodando.




------------© Rafael Jesús González 2008






On the 8th Day of the 8th Month of the 8th Year
of the Millennium


Today every roll of the dice
comes up the same number
----4-4,
---------3-5,
--------------2-6,
-------------------1-7;
supernatural, eerie
like a spider playing the scales.

So must it have appeared
to the folk on the arc
watching the planets circle the sun
once the skies cleared,
a chess game won with the lesser pieces.
At the feast of lights, the high priest
wearing all his vestments, the faithful
trailing the tassels of their shawls,

listening to the instruments
accompanying the psalms
knew it, the holy number,
Solomon’s & the prophets’ seal,
the day their males first
spilt their blood in primitive sacrifice.
In these dark times
we need recall the beatitudes

& more than ever in telling the cards
we need to draw the one for strength,
make our offerings to the enlightened.
The Chinese immortals count it
the number of prosperity,
the spokes of the seasons' wheel
----infinity turning,
----------------------turning.



------------© Rafael Jesús González 2008
-
-

1 comment:

Halifu Osumare said...

Rafael,

I am responding from Ghana, West Africa. It is interesting viewing American politics from this vantage point. Ghanaians are nearly 100% behind Barak Obama. I think that when he wins the election, there will be as much celebration here as there in the US.

You are absolutely right, we get what we deserve. The US deserved Bush because the majority of the people were willing to be duped by his and his cronies' lies and hyprocrisy. Now we have a chance to choose something different for ourselves---something more resembling a sense of justice, fairness, intelligent dialogue, and a sense of morality. Do we deserve that? I think so!! I will be voting from here absentee. I pray to the ancestral spirits that hover around this prophetic date of 9/11 to help us deserve something better for ourselves.

Rafael, check out my blog at www.halifuosumare.com. I am recording my experiences. Gene and I just went to the slaves castles on the coast to revisit that particular ancestral experience---Much Love, Peace, & Justice.

Halifu
Halifu Osumare
20008-9 Fulbright Scholar
University of Ghana-Legon