Prayer of a Latin-American in Vancouver

*Gracias a Alejandra Ortiz por su ayuda en la traducción de este poema.

Este poema fue publicado en este blog primero en español
"Oración de un latino en Vancouver", puedes leerlo aquí: leer en español

Oh God
You know me better than I do
And better than all of them
You understand why I cannot
Stop seeing you on earth
Even if in this place my brother and sisters
Are fixated to see you in the heavens
Glorious and admirable
Full of grace and true truth
I don’t know if they know
But they pray and praise you
Even with metaphors of power
But for me and my own
Power is oppressive
It exploits
The powerful are not our friends
Nor from our countries
Not even here where we are migrants
Because they impose their desires with force
Their biblical interpretations
Destroy our governments
Invade our land
Steal our natural resources
They apply to us their treaties and their theology
With that experience as heritage
You will know to forgive me
If I don’t adore you or pray like them
Or if I don’t look for you in the heavens
In a throne with all your crowns
Over your bloody forehead
Oh my God
I don’t only see you in an idea or in the truth
But incarnate here on earth
Walking with us
Suffering as us
The onslaught of the conqueror
Like in our colonized and
Neo-colonized countries
Surrounded by those who give life
With all their limitations and deficiencies
Here we adore you and pray
With our songs and with dancing
With your image speaking through common stories
Questioning the teachers of the law
Ejecting the merchants from the temple
Contradicting the empire
You will know to forgive me
If I adore you and do it from the margins
Looking for you on earth
As your main expression of love
Assuming full humanity
Dying as one more victim
Of all the dictatorships and
Resurrecting.