Che 1997

Lo han cubierto de afiches /de pancartas
de voces en los muros
de agravios retroactivos
de honores a destiempo

lo han transformado en pieza de consumo
en memoria trivial
en ayer sin retorno
en rabia embalsamada

han decidido usarlo como epilogo
como última thule de la inocencia vana
como anejo arquetipo de santo o satanás

y quizás han resuelto que la única forma
de desprenderse de él
o dejarlo al garete
es vaciarlo de lumbre
convertirlo en un héroe
de mármol o de yeso
y por lo tanto inmóvil
o mejor como mito
o silueta o fantasma
del pasado pisado

sin embargo los ojos incerrables del che
miran como si no pudieran no mirar
asombrados tal vez de que el mando no entienda
que treinta años después sigue bregando
dulce y tenaz por la dicha del hombre.

Mario Benedetti

Che 1997

They've covered him with posters/ and placards

slogans on walls

retroactive honors

they've turned him into consumer goods

trivial memory

past of no return

mummified rage

they've decided to use him as a postscript

an extreme case of worthless innocence

a stale prototype of satan or a saint

and perhaps they've concluded that the only way

to be done with him

or set him adrift

is to drain him of his light

turn him into a lifeless hero

of marble or plaster

better a myth

shadow or ghost

over and done with

and yet che's unclosable eyes

stare as if they couldn't stop

perhaps astonished that the world can't understand

how thirty years later he's still struggling

gently and firmly for the well-being of mankind

translated by Louise B. Popkin

(Picture: Che Guevara, Andy Warhol)