Don't Ever Leave

You haven't left yet and I'm already waiting for you.
Because I know it will happen sooner or later,
on a gray afternoon
where the clouds become the sky
and your absence walks into the house.

♦

The leaves fall slowly
and mark the time,
like an immense clock that can't be seen.
And time falls too, behind my forehead,
rusting your silhouette, eating away your fingers.

♦

Maybe you're not leaving, maybe I'm the one who stays,
rocking in a chair my fear of distances,
cutting off my anchors… your departure hurts me.

♦

But it hasn't happened yet and there's still time,
to tell you from deep inside…
don't ever leave,
your absence kills me,
there are so many stories
I need to tell you,
there are still kisses on your lips
that I still haven't had,
if you go I'll die
even if I haven't died.

♦

Stay, I promise you a thousand hammocks,
a cloud that won't rain and the sunset in your window.
I'll rock you hidden away,
with an emerald sway
and one afternoon you'll take me
to visit your statues.

♦

(Edgar Landívar, 2005) (Minor changes in 2013)