LASKIAF AMORTEGUI

 

 

Nostalgia

 

The laughter of childhood is lost in the sunset.

The leaves of the old trees are tangled in the wind.

The pages of my last book

served as a handkerchief.

Nostalgia, you kiss me with the bitter chalice of pain,

with the sweet chalice of memory,

with the poisoned chalice of revenge,

with the chalice of my own perdition.

Death would be a reward for this pain,

for this childhood suffering!

for this naive mockery!

Time crying for yesterdays,

the time lost within my memory,

the beloved time...

Now, without her.

But I am not a coward, I am an Atlas, an Achilles... I believe.

Yes, I love her, but I need to breathe,

I need to laugh, I need life.

I must feign hatred under the sun,

and dry the pages of my book,

while nostalgia evokes her.

 

To My Dead

 

My dead visited me tonight.

With gentleness they approached my soul,

piercing my heart, and with a soft whisper, I heard, stunned: “We miss you.”

They inhabit worlds condemned to eternal oblivion.

They asked me with deep sadness: Why have I not remembered them again?

They crave my prayers; when desperate, I cried out for their help.

They long for my talks in solitude, where I bared my dejected heart.

In certain moments, they wept with me and calmed my anguish.

Tonight, I felt the pain of their lost absences,

the torment pulsing beyond their very souls.

A faint light still flickers in their hearts,

and I saw memories trapped in their recollections of the past.

In a strange and magical way, little by little and without meaning to,

I am forgetting them… I accept it.

Now they watch me with grief, and my ingratitude accompanies them.

I approached their dimensional refuge with my head bowed.

Without a word, a deep and abysmal silence separated us.

I know they are in my heart… No, I am not one for flowers in the cemetery.

Tonight, my dead visited me, those whom I loved.

And their anxious gazes faded away;

and I, with a heavy heart, sincerely, I did not know how to respond!

 

LASKIAF AMORTEGUI

 

LASKIAF AMORTEGUI is a Colombian poet and writer, and the author of the dramatic novel “La jaula de las mariposas” (The Butterflies' Cage). Her work, honored with the Arina Gold award in Russia, has been translated into multiple languages. Recognized as the 2025 Best Poet of the Year in Morocco, her career has also been distinguished in Turkey (Alanya Kalesi) and awarded in Mexico with the Golden Microphone. Her writing, characterized by its deep humanity and soul, establishes her as a prominent female voice in international literature.