Our culture, our words, our rights go with us wherever we go

EXILIO

Pablo Neruda

Your exile is round
a circle, a ring:
enveloped by your feet, you cross the earth,
but it is not your earth,
the light awakens you, but it is not your light,
nigh falls: you stars are missing
and you find brothers and sisters: it is not your blood

You become a ghost, ashamed
for not loving morethose who so love us.
and it is yet so strange to miss
the hostile thorns of your homeland,
the coarse neglect of your people,
the bitter affairs that still await
and howl at you at the door

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EXILE

Pablo Neruda

El destierro es redondo
un círculo, un anillo:
le dan vuelta a tus pies, cruzas la tierra,
no es tu tierra,
te despierta la luz, y no es tu luz
la noche llega: faltan tus estrellas,
hallas hermanos,: pero no es tu sangre.

Eres como un fantasma avergonzado
de no amar más a los que tanto te aman,
y aún es tan extraño que te falten
las hostiles espinas de tu patria.
El ronco desamparo de tu pueblo,
los asuntos amargos que te esperan
y que te ladrarán desde la puerta.

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) was the preeminent poet of Chile and was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971.

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) fue uno de los poetas más destacados de Chile; le otorgaron el Premio Nobel por literatura en 1971.

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The following poem was published on the back cover of the program of the People's Global Action for Migration, Development & Human Rights.