Poem: Pero No Pueden (But They Can't)

by Liliana Nogueira-Pache



Pero No Pueden

Primero nos mataron.
Después nos encerraron
dentro, muy dentro de nosotros.

Ya no nos mirábamos, salíamos con las cabezas bajas
teníamos miedo.  Teníamos vergüenza.
Sobre todo sentíamos vergüenza.

Porque ya no nos atrevíamos a pensar
a hablar.
Sobre todo, no nos atrevíamos a defender a los demás.

Por eso, nuestras cabezas no miraban hacia adelante
por eso nuestros ojos se clavaban en el suelo
por eso huíamos de nosotros.

Seguíamos encerrados
atrapados
muertos en nuestra vergüenza.

Inmóviles.
Máscaras vacías
de un mundo sin comprensión
donde el terror siembra silencio,
aniquila y destruye.


But They Can’t 

First they killed us.
Later they locked us up
within ourselves, deep within ourselves.

Now we didn’t look each other in the eye, we went about with our heads bowed.
We were afraid. We were ashamed.
Above all we were ashamed.

Because now we couldn’t even think
or talk.
More than that, we didn’t dare defend each other.

That’s why we didn’t walk with heads raised.
That’s why our eyes were fixed on the ground.
That’s why we escaped from ourselves.

We were caught
trapped
dead in our shame.

Motionless.
Empty masks
of a world without compassion.
Where terror sows silence,
annihilates and destroys.



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