Poetry Translation Centre

The Burden of Life

by Eduardo White

The burden of life!
I loved bearing it, just like you,
hearing it grow inside me,
in living flesh.

I didn't only want
to open your wound,
I didn't only want
the patient vocation of a labourer:
I wanted the earth's vocation too,
which also is yours.

Treat love like a profession,
to be practised with great care.

Repeat to perfection
as often as necessary,
until it lasts
and everything inside
is in the right place.

Let the sun rise into the night.
Never let love become a leftover, a memory.