Nostalgia

Continuing with our series featuring poems by Pedro Rodríguez Miranda, my grandfather-in-law. Today, I’m sharing his seventh poem titled “Nostalgia”.

Nostalgia

En mis sueños yo veo tierras extrañas,
No sé de qué país ni de qué patria.
¿Será que mi destino tal vez depara
Que pase mi existencia fuera de casa?
¿O será que nunca ya, 
Volveré a pisar mis lindas playas?

Tierras que desconozco veo en mis sueños
Y me siento, no sé, triste o contento,
Mas siempre por mi patria nostalgia tengo.

Oh Señor, que lejos de mi isla no pase el tiempo,
Añorando sus mares y sus lamentos.
Que pueda ver un día sus verdes montes
Y sus arbustos verdes y sus contornos,
Todo lleno de luz del sol del Trópico.

Que me arrullen sus aguas y oiga las aves
Cantar sus dulces trinos en los zarzales,
Que se abracen los pinos y las palmeras
Para darme su sombra placentera.

Que el río más fresco, que en sus arenas, 
Pueda yo recostarme,
A la luz de mi sol a calentarme.

Oh Señor, deja que pueda volver a mi país,
Mi linda tierra;
Que vuelva a ver sus calles tan estrechas
Y que pase allí dulce, mi existencia.

Que mi vejez no pase en otras tierras,
Tan lejos de los míos …
¡Ay! … Y que mis hijos,
Sepan querer la patria chica
que el sol bendijo.

Agosto 1950
Nueva York
Nostalgia

In my dreams, I see strange lands,
I don’t know what country or homeland.
Could it be that my destiny perhaps holds
that my existence passes far from home?
Or is it that never again,
Will I step on my beautiful beaches?

Unknown lands I see in my dreams,
And I feel, I don’t know, sad or happy,
Yet always for my homeland, nostalgia I hold.

Oh Lord, may time not pass far from my island,
Longing for its seas and its sorrows.
May I one day see its green mountains
and its green shrubs and contours,
Everything full of the tropic sunlight.

May its waters lull me and hear the birds
singing their sweet tunes in the brambles,
May the pines and palms embrace
to offer me their pleasant shade.

That the freshest river, upon its sands,
may I lie down,
and bask in the warmth of my sun.

Oh Lord, let me return to my country,
My beautiful land;
to see its narrow streets once more
And there, may my existence pass sweetly.

May my old age not be spent in other lands,
So far from my own ...
Ay! ... And may my children,
know to love the small homeland
that the sun has blessed.

August 1950
New York

Translated by Edward Ortiz and Liza Rodríguez
Previous Poems:
1. Young Love
2. To Jelly
3. Message of Love
4. Subtle Dream
5. Honeymoon Journey
6. That is Love

About the Author:

Pedro Rodríguez Miranda was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, on 22 February 1930. He completed his primary and secondary education in Puerto Rico before moving to New York City to attend college when the Korean War started. He joined the Marine Corps and served four years, completing his enlistment and receiving an honorable discharge. After his service, he returned to New York City and attended college, receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Upon graduation, he worked for the city until 1965 when he returned to Puerto Rico. He worked as a high school teacher in Aguadilla and completed his second Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education from the University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez.

36 thoughts on “Nostalgia”

  8. A lesson we fail to teach ~ love of the small and simple. But it is in the small and simple that we at last find satisfaction, no matter how big and intricate we get to earn the wherewithall to purchase once again the small and simple, however grand their surroundings.

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  11. So much longing in this poem for his beloved beaches, his tremendous tropics. This is a poem any immigrant or person who has left their home state would understand in their heart. I am happy to read in your father in law’s bio that he was able to return, work and live in su Puerto Rico lindo y querido.

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  12. Another wonderful poem. It reminds me of what so many people, from so many places, must hold in their hearts when they find themselves living in a country and/or culture (or landscape) so different from the homeland they hold dear.

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      1. Yes, so very many examples. Plenty of heartbreaking stories, and stories of courage in the face of adversity. Your wife’s grandfather’s poem being in Spanish speaks to another loss people encounter when they’re forced to leave their homeland for safety reasons; the loss of their mother tongue.

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