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Poetry

Secretary of State

By Oscar Hahn
Translated from Spanish by James Hoggard
Chilean poet, Oscar Hahn, pens a poem of warning.

You washed your conscience
and hung it up on a line
where the clean clothes dry

But drops of dirty water fell
and formed a pool
and then a muddy river
that flowed out to sea

Through that sea battleships sail
destroyers aircraft carriers
atomic submarines
that spit out radioactive fire

Those who have nothing
have only had their blood to wash
and their wounded to gather
and their dead to bury

 

© Oscar Hahn. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2007 by James Hoggard. All rights reserved.

English

You washed your conscience
and hung it up on a line
where the clean clothes dry

But drops of dirty water fell
and formed a pool
and then a muddy river
that flowed out to sea

Through that sea battleships sail
destroyers aircraft carriers
atomic submarines
that spit out radioactive fire

Those who have nothing
have only had their blood to wash
and their wounded to gather
and their dead to bury

 

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