THE BLACK MESSENGERS by cesar vallejo

César Abraham Vallejo Mendoza (March 16, 1892 – April 15, 1938) was a Peruvian poet. Although during his lifetime he published only three books of poetry, he is nonetheless considered one of the great poetic innovators of the 20th century. Always a step ahead of the literary currents, each of his books was distinct from the others and, in its own sense, revolutionary.

"...As of Peruvian poetry, for me, Vallejo is extraordinary. Yes, he is ours, and besides, he was a Communist," said President Gonzalo. José Carlos Mariátegui, the founder of the PCP, considered Vallejo to be "an absolute creator."

Cesar Vallejo, the poet, the militant, the Communist, is being remembered by the proletariat and the people in the 106th anniversary of his birth. read more.

And for me IMHO, Vallejo is perhaps the one of the better Latin-American poets. poems here.

God

I feel that God is traveling
so much in me, with the dusk and the sea.
With him we go along together. It is getting dark.
With him we get dark. All orphans . . .

But I feel God. And it even seems
that he sets aside some good color for me.
He is kind and sad, like those who care for the sick;
he whispers with sweet contempt like a lover's;
his heart must give him great pain.

Oh, my God, I've only just come to you,
today I love so much in this twilight; today
that in the false balance of some breasts
I weigh and weep for a frail Creation.

And you, what do you weep for . . . you, in love
with such an immense and whirling breast . . .
I consecrate you, God, because you love so much;
because you never smile; because your heart
must all the time give you great pain.

César Vallejo
trans. by Robert Bly