Who Wants to Live Forever/by Felipe Granados

A poem from the late Costa Rican poet Felipe Granados from his book Soundtrack (2005, Ediciones Perro Azul)

Who Wants to Live Forever

QUEEN

And so what if I paint

scenes of wild animal hunts

and shoot my arrow

and murder the leader

of another clan

and hand out the meat to everyone?

So what if I put

fire to metal

and learn to move about

on wheels

and cast spells on the earth

to make it bear bread,

mold

and venom?

So what if I inhabit

the same caverns

and tunnels

as the elder moles

and I let the kids

wander

amongst the beasts

so they might learn

the inexpressible wisdom

of the living

and the dead?

So what if I build Olympus

and fill it with gods

full of defects

and stubborn egos?

And so what if I leave Ithaca

and don’t return for a long time?

So what if I draw back the bow

and I’m the string

and arrow tip

and I murder

all your lovers?

So what if I go to the circus

and shout

Death! Death!?

So what if I hold

the key to the empire

and I take, for example,

the horse

and make it

break its own knees

over the journey through

all those roads

that nowadays

never lead to Rome?

So what if I am the ugliest,

least capable ship boy

of the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.

And so what if, seduced

by the magic of this place

where everything is new

and corruptible,

I corrupt

and age everything?

So what if I burn

the feet of some Aztec prince

while at the same

time

I cut off the head

of some European traveler?

So what if I say Satan

or I say Love

and I declare myself guilty

of both crimes?

So what if I condemn you

to die in the bonfire

and I am the smoke

the pyre

and the executioner?

So what if I shout freedom

and shout no

and split your head open

and die hating you?

So what if I set ablaze

the biggest libraries

showing absolutely no remorse

and at that same moment

I store away in memory

books in Quiché

of Job

and of the Dead?

So what if I smoke marijuana

in the middle of the plaza

and I am a cop

and I chase myself

and catch myself

and punish myself?

So what if I murder three-hundred

and search for the guilty parties

and commit suicide

and am born

and then say: is everything alright?

So what if I drop the bomb

and it drops right on my forehead

and I ask for forgiveness

and I smile

and I am ash

and animal?

So what if I undress a woman

with big tits

and I feel flattered

for the gift of these words?

So what if I serve you coffee

and drink it for myself

and you feel you owe me a tip

and I give you my spare change

and march off

leaving you sad

on another night

where nothing happens?

So what if when I get home

I find you there

and I say: Man

what weather,

the rain

and both of us leave soaked?

And so what if I die

and carry my own coffin

and say I was good

and head off

and say good night

and then turn off the light?