Millenia-old, like the stones,
like the tongues
of those peoples
who hold fast
to the present of their past.
Azeri-buztan, zaldi-buztan?
(Fox tail, horsetail?
you’re the word master, Gabriel…)
–to keep one’s heart warm,
one’s head high.
Remineralize us back.
Stick us to the earth!
In multiple hemostasis.
Forever
resilient.
[1] Published in Catalan “Sílvia Aymerich” in Literaturaren Pasaia: Euskal Idazleen Elkartea, 2014: 84-85.
*Quotation in Basque: “You, /you, /tree, /Basque stone”. Note that “Euskal harria” means “Basque stone”, whereas “Euskal Herria”, the Basque country, means literally “the country of the Basque language”.