[É fermosa a carencia]

by Berta Dávila

É fermosa a carencia

como é fermoso un deserto de xeo,

como os lobos son fermosos,

como son fermosos os velenos:

porque prenden por dentro

para que a luz se faga.

[Being without is beautiful]

by Berta Dávila

Being without is beautiful

beautiful like a desert of ice,

like wolves are beautiful

beautiful like poison:

because it starts a fire within

that brings light into being.

translated from Galician by Neil D. Anderson

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Berta Dávila lives in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia (Spain). Dávila is the author of the poetry collections Corpo baleiro (2007), Dentro (2008), Raíz da fenda (2013), as well as the narrative works Bailarei sobre a túa tumba (2008) and O derradeiro libro de Emma Olsen (2013).

Neil D. Anderson is a visiting assistant professor of Spanish at Texas Tech University. His translations of Galician poetry and short fiction have appeared in journals such as Shearsman, Asymptote, The Bitter Oleander, Drunken Boat, and Absinthe.

Circumference

Poetry in Translation

[É fermosa a carencia]

[Being without is beautiful]