by Abdiel Espinoza
Presented for the Stott-Bediako Forum
Abdiel Espinoza offers a selection of poems, with the goal of bringing to light the individual and collective experience of those who, based on their experience of the Gospel and the Mission of God, build peace and are agents of transformation in their communities on the margins of society.
Through poetry, Abdiel invites us to experience the reality of living the new world created by the Spirit, a world in which everyday men and women participate, establishing social relationships of care and promoting life and justice in anticipation of the consummation of the Kingdom of God.
The poems are arranged with phrases that emerge from the margins of the political, economic and cultural power centers, raised by those who suffer because of those centers or are forgotten in their civilizing projects. They also include images that anticipate the experience of the Kingdom of God, by the people of God in the urban context. Where common men and women, moved by the Spirit of life, live pain, fellowship, and hope in the midst of their different challenges, particularly that of migration.
A few selected poems are translated here, and the full compilation is available below (in Spanish).
DIOS CRUZADO
Asolado Dios de migrantes que caminas a través de los muros
Levanta los cuerpos de quienes durmieron
Sin sentirse bienvenidos
Bésales la frente
Tómalos tiernamente por sus manos
Condúcelos sin miedo a tu hogar y
Dales un nombre resistente al paso del tiempo.
Dios cruzado de dolores
Dios usado para separar
Vuélvenos la vista a tu cuerpo
Marcado de amor y de un cielo sin fronteras
Hállanos cavando nuestra propia fosa
En estas líneas imaginadas
Torna lo destinado a la muerte en resurrección
Siembra aquí
En este hondo dolor
Tu Reino de una vez y para siempre.
Crossed God
Forsaken God of migrants, you who walk through walls
Raise the bodies of those who fell asleep
Without feeling welcomed
Kiss their foreheads
Hold them tenderly in your hands
Guide them without fear to your home and
Give them a name that withstands the passage of time.
Crossed God of sorrows
God used to separate
Return to us the sight of your body
Marked by love and by a sky without borders
Find us digging our own grave
In these imagined lines
Turn what was destined for death into resurrection
Plant here
In this deep pain
Your Kingdom once and for all.
El Reino florece en Tijuana
Para Iglesia Camino de Salvación en El Pípila, Tijuana
Vengan las naciones y escuchen reír al Mesías
Jugando descalzo en un patio descubierto
De una esquina de Tijuana
Rodeado de niños haitianos, centroamericanos y mexicanitos
Vengan
Vean
¿Acaso sus ojos pueden reconocerlo?
El Hijo de Dios está ahí
Sentado a la mesa
Escuchando historias de dolor y pérdida
Corta cebollas y tomates
Después se da tiempo para tomar la guitarra y cantar
Sazona el guisado
Limpia el sudor de la frente
Y Con manos trabajadas hace su el templo
Remueve sillas
Acomoda mesas
Abre las puertas alegremente
Vean al Mesías servir rebozados los platos
Y en medio de tanta vulnerabilidad
Da gracias
Bendice la comida
Nos levanta a todos
Mientras desciende su Reino
Así nos alimenta generosamente
Con el pan de su cuerpo.
The Kingdom blooms in Tijuana
For the church Camino de Salvación in El Pípila, Tijuana
Come, nations, and hear the Messiah laugh
Playing barefoot on a patio
Hidden away in a corner of Tijuana
Surrounded by little ones –
Haitian, Central American and Mexican
Come
See
Can your eyes recognize him?
The Son of God is there
Seated at the table
Listening to stories of pain and loss
He cuts onions and tomatoes
Afterward, he takes time to pick up
The guitar and sing
He seasons the stew
Wipes the sweat from his brow
And with worn hands he makes his temple
Moving around chairs
Setting out tables
He opens the doors joyfully
See, the Messiah serves plates overflowing
And in the midst of so much vulnerability
He gives thanks
Blessing the food
He raises us all
While his Kingdom descends
In this way, he feeds us generously
With the bread of his body.
SEMBRADORES DE OASIS
Written for Border Angels
¿A qué se parece la esperanza?
Es como un galón de agua escondido
Debajo de un matorral
En ese extenso desierto sembrado de casquillos de mentiras
Odio, indiferencia y muerte.
Hoy caminé bajo un sol amenazador
Con mensajeros llenos de nudos en la garganta
Ellos comparten su mensaje desde la debilidad y el sacrificio
La misma con la cual se conquistan los corazones.
Su esperanza y frustración les acompañan a cuestas
Juntas conviven en sus cuerpos fértiles de sueños.
Entonces nace nueva vida cuya luz se extiende hasta la eternidad
Sin obstáculos de lenguaje o frontera.
Esos baluartes en el desierto volverán a su hogar
Para no regresar jamás.
Olvidarán esas viejas veredas
Y el sabor del polvo en la lengua
Porque su trabajo nunca más será necesario.
Entonces podrán descansar en paz
Con la luz en su frente y sus brazos permanentemente abiertos
Para recibir y nunca más añorar.
Sowers of Oases
Written for Border Angels
What does hope look like?
It’s like a gallon of water hidden
Under a thicket
In this vast desert sewn with
Shells of lies
Hatred, indifference and death.
Today, I walked under a scorching sun
With messengers filled with knots
In their throats
They share their message from
Weakness and sacrifice
The same with which hearts
Are won.
Their hope and frustration
Carried with them on their backs
Living side-by-side in their in their bodies
Fertile with dreams.
Then, a new life is born whose light
Extends on into eternity
Without obstacles of language or borders.
Those strongholds in the desert will return to their home
Never to return.
They will forget those old sidewalks
And the taste of dust on their tongue
Because their work will never again be necessary.
Then, they will be able to rest in peace
With the light on their foreheads and their arms permanently open
To receive and never again to yearn.
About the author:
The views and opinions expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect an official position of INFEMIT. We seek to foster reflection through conversation, and ask you to be respectful and constructive in your comments.
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