Alfonsina Storni: Words to my Mother

Words to my Mother

I don't ask you to tell me the great truths
Because you wouldn't tell me; I only ask
If, when you carried me in your belly, strolling through
Dark patios in bloom, the moon was a witness.

And if, when I slept listening
In your breast with its Latin passions,
A hoarse and singing sea lulled you to sleep nights
And if you watched in the gold dusk, the sea birds plunge.

For my soul is all fantasy, a voyager,
And it is wrapped in a cloud of dancing folly
When the new moon ascends the dark blue sky.

And, lulled by a clear song of sailors, it likes -
If the sea unlocks its strong perfume -
To watch the great birds that pass without destination.
       
                                -Alfonsina Storni (translated from the Spanish by Mary Crow)