Elegy to Tears

Tears

have no frontiers;

carry no passport;

nor require a visa.

Tears

are international;

as affection,

tenderness,

love.

Tears

have no fatherland;

they are universal.

Tears

is the man;

is the woman,

—the mother—,

is the child.

To suffer

is what is human

and human is the people.

To suffer is the flesh

rendered from the people

which raises a moan

and sheds tears.

And the people are here;

and in the antipode,

in the septentrion,

in the capricorn.

The people are

everywhere,

because to suffer

is the people;

people, of the peoples

which cover the Earth.

This. Earth

that was taken

from the people;

that was taken

from the man;

the woman,

—the mother—,

the child.

This Earth

which must be

reconquered

because it belongs to us.

Make it ours

Ours. Everyone’s.

Without borders

and without fatherlands.

And, thus put an end

to suffering

and put an end

to tears.

Federico Arcos

(Picture: Aged angel, Odilon Redon)