Two Quechua Poems

A photograph of a hummingbird hovering over a red flower — White-bellied woodstar hummingbird, Upper Las Tangáras Reserve, Colombia / Photo by Doug Greenberg / Flickr

Mamaku mushgoymanta

Niy shuk machula mushgoymanta:
Cay kamachik cay away yachay llanchay khuskan tutayay
Cay Kamachik cay rumi t´ikiy mallkiri qellkay yachay yuyaykuna
Cay Kamachik cay riqsiy qurakuna kara kukuri
Cay kamachik cay wachakuq warmi ima chaskiy kawsay P´uyunqu suyakuy
Cay kamachik cay yachay ñawinchay kawsay saywakuna wañuyri
Cay kamachik cay Yachay intiksiqamunan sumak kawsay;
Willakuq mushgoy, mamaku hap´iy nina imallapas shimimanta
Shimiwanri nina callu phukuy runa sonkoymanta
Imata manajaik´aj cay qunkay munaypay sachamanta makanakuykuna kawsayk.
Hinan ppatmay teksita qatiy yanay
Awkina kamachikri ima pusaykachak runamanta mushgoykuna

La abuela en el sueño

Dijó una abuela en el sueño:
Ser autoridad es tejer con destreza y alumbrar en medio de la oscuridad
Ser autoridad es tallar la piedra y el árbol para escribir memorias
Ser autoridad es conocer las hierbas que curan el cuerpo y el alma
Ser autoridad es ser partera que recibe la vida en lecho de esperanza
Ser autoridad es saber leer las señas de la vida y la muerte
Ser autoridad es saber hace florecer la lengua y la palabra
Ser autoridad es saber orientar en el arte del vivir;
Anunciado el sueño, la abuela tomó algo de fuego entre su boca
Y con la lengua en llama candente lo insufló en el corazón humano
Para que nunca se olvide la memoria de antiguas luchas por la vida.
Luego partió al cosmos a seguir acompañando
Como espíritu y autoridad que guía los sueños de nuestra gente.

Grandmother in the Dream

Said a grandmother while dreaming:
To be a sage is to weave with skill and cast light in the midst of darkness
To be a sage is to write memories by carving into stone and tree
To be a sage is to know the herbs that heal body and soul
To be a sage is to be a midwife who receives life on a bed of hope
To be a sage is to know how to read signs of life and death
To be a sage is to know how to make language and the word flourish
To be a sage is to know how to guide others in the art of living;
Having spoken her dream, the grandmother took some fire in her mouth
And with her tongue breathed hot flame into the human heart
So that memory of the old struggles for life might never be forgotten.
Then she departed for the cosmos as the spirit and sage
Who guides the dreams of our people.

* * *

Shimi Wawakuna

Imaypacha wawakuna
Shimi churay
Koyllurkuna k´anchay
Allpakuna taki huc kindiri
Chonccay yawar tikapi
Pay runa shimi cay kawsay muyumanta

Palabra y niños

Cuando los niños y niñas
Colocan palabra
Las estrellas resplandecen
La tierra canta y el colibrí
Chupa en la roja flor
El lenguaje humano se hace vida desde la semilla

Words and Children

When children
Grasp words
The stars shine
The earth sings and
Hummingbirds drink from red flowers
Human language springs to life from a seed

Translations from the Spanish

Editorial note: Chikanagana’s essay “Mother Earth, Womb of Origin, and Language in the Quechua Yanakuna World” appears as a web exclusive in this issue.

Quechua poet and speaker Fredy Chikangana is from the Yanakuna Mitmak Nation in the Yurak Mayu territory of Colombia. His Indigenous name is Wiñay Mallki, which means “root that remains over time.” The prizewinning author of two verse collections, he has participated in national and international poetry events in Indigenous languages, and his poems have been translated into multiple languages. He has worked on strengthening Quechua Yanakuna Mitmak identity and oralitura, work that he shares with his Native brothers and sisters throughout the Americas.

Daniel Simon is a poet, essayist, translator, and WLT’s assistant director and editor in chief. His most recent edited collection, Dispatches from the Republic of Letters: 50 Years of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature (2020), was nominated for a 2020 Foreword INDIES Award.

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