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Arrows
of Love From
the Kings of Kush (Cantos de La Sirena Para Su Enamorado) By María Elena Gaitán |
Note: Glossary of Spanish, French and Nahuatl words and verses is given at the end.
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My
body knows you Habesha
Man Descendant
of the ancient lands of Kush We
are Aztlán and Africa together In
our bodies In
our hearts and spirits In
our mirrored desire for each other I
reflect you deeply In
every succulent kiss of lips And
burst of heat Y
más We
are Delicia de Café con Chocolate
Smoky
sweet almond roses Tender
and hot Chile
and Nectar Rubbed
into one. My
spirit knows you Habesha
Man Your
stunning dark arrow Pierces
me relentlessly Seven
times In
one morning In
perfect cadence Like
some ancient love song Sung
in Geez Deep
sacred verses From
the beginning of time Longing
and Sweet Stirring Los
Dulces Jugos de La Vida Within
us. At
this age Or
any age To
make love Till
happily exhausted Moaned
to little deaths Les
petits mortes Greatly
exuding and deliciously alive Not
knowing Who
is who Nor
which is which This
Undeniable Gift
of Life Exploded
One Into
the Other …Mercy. So
then receive it This
delectable gift Yours
from the universe Which
has always been yours And
you know this Because
his touch Is
as essential as Breathing His
hands and legs entwined with yours Braided
lovers bonds And
you know it now That
he is part of you And
you of him Own
that In
the deepest part of your soul And
know It
is The
truth. You And
the Habesha Man from the Land of Kush Are
Lovers In
the throes of passion And
He Has
always wanted You And
Wants
you still. Receive
with deep happiness This
healing ebony gifted arrow That
brings you such abundant love And
opens you for the first time once again Your
deepest womanhood To
the mouth of the womb Where
the great rivers are born To
kiss it With
his smoky spear Where
pinkest inner life force wet Throbs
with delight Where
the memory of love Still
resides Nestled Beneath
the surface of my subterranean waters And
you are singing into me Deeply
etching My
name Your
Song My
Lover My
Habesha Man Tender
penetrator of
my walls of resistance. Your
gentle face contorts At
the bursting of each dam Each
time You
come home to me Only
uttering the words Aséy,
Aséy Aiii,
Aiii Deeply
shivering and shuddering Crashing Into
the waves of My
want of You An
obsidian mirror Each
of the Other In
Lak’Ech. The
love bite on my bed Is
the size And
the shape of The
continent of Mama Africa Of
Tata Indio de Las Américas The
edges of a sacred map
Born
of the give and take Of
our unending love dance Trance
of never ending Irrevocable
ocean currents That
circle from your shores to mine And
back again From
time immemorial. All
my protesting And
all my railing against This
most intimate of all connections All
my resistance to believing That
this place even exists Where
lovers are naked To
each other With
their bodies And
their hearts Where
gentle spirits hover Where
lovers share their fears And
hopes and Just
lay sleepily In
the perfect profound oblivion Of
each other’s arms Needing nothing more. All
this protesting and railing
About
the roles Of
men and women From
this land and that And
of what is right and what is wrong Is
a feeble attempt to disguise the enormity Of
these unbridled passions and desires Which
you have aroused In
no uncertain terms In
both of us. My
Habesha Man From
the Land of the Kings of Kush Who
kisses my mouths With
your mouth and spear And
leaves me sweetly spent In
the twilight Of
a drowsy bliss, My
soul knows you From
the beginning of time All
this and more Into
infinity Into
the stars Where
our lineage resides En
la curva de tus labios In
the ancestral celestial tides That
rise and fall and rise again In
each other’s embrace In
each other’s dreams In
the nuances of The Beloved’s voice En
La Cara de la Luna Desbordante Amor
al Rojo Vivo Besos
Profundos Estoy
Fundida en Ti Y
Muy Bién Lo Sé Aséy,
Aséy, Aséy. ˜ 15
de septiembre, 2003 Punta Banda, Baja California, México María Elena Gaitán is a Chicana musician, performance artist and writer. For more information on her see: http://headlands.org/Artists/MariaElenaGaitan.shtml or she can be contacted at: cholamundis@yahoo.com
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Glossary Cantos
de La Sirena Para Su Enamorado – Aztlán
- The mythical place of origin of the Aztec people before their
departure to central México from the lands known today as the
Southwestern United States. In Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, the
roots of the word Aztlán are: “aztatl” ("heron") and
“tlan” ("place
of") respectively. Aztlán is also an important cultural marker for
contemporary Chicano arts and literature. Delicia
de Café con Chocolate
– Coffee and Chocolate Delicacy Y
más
– And more Tata
Indio de Las Américas – Les
Petits Mortes
– The Little Deaths (Fr.) En
la curva de tus labios -
In the curve of your lips In
Lak’Ech
– “I am The Other You,” greeting
in a Mayan language En
La Cara de la Luna Desbordante –
Amor
al Rojo Vivo –Fiery
Red Love Besos
Profundos
– Profoundly Deep Kisses Estoy
Fundida en Ti
– I Am Merged Into You Y
Muy Bién Lo Sé
– And I Know This Well Aséy
– An Ethiopian expression
of happiness, satisfaction and fulfillment
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