To poetry Poem by Ponç Pons

Out of an island of words,
among wild olive trees and books,
while I feel, listening to
the beauty of the wind,
that to write is to breathe,
to understand, to make love
and art makes us human,
I will tell you, passionately:
I love you and without you
nothing would have feeling
nor would it be as sure,
that thing they call living.

With the tongues of the heart
and with ink like the generous
sea of the islands,
we sow verses to make
meaning and truth
flower open and free
in the holy body of the world.

More than from our birthplace
we are from the place we love
and as grateful readers
who hold what we give
we make of our diversity one single
great poem in which life
is the only country.

Translation from Catalan by Anna Crowe