The Lull of Twilight [Over Mantaro Valley] In English and Spanish

Twilight, was now beginning. As for

the sun, it was down-down over
the Mantaro Valley of Peru. The softness
of the Valley's mist, covered everything;
from the Andes to the Valley?and
through

(then I noticed)

?the color of charcoal blended into earth

and sky-; ebbing between this was the
mystery of twilight (the parting of day, for
the birth of night); where little, to nothing
was said-where motion was almost dead
(between man and beast); but not nature!

'Tis a time unto itself-between calm and

caution, silent oblivion and night; even
the shadows and shades surrender, mind-
to-mind with their earthy hoists, for a
moment?.

'Tis the moment of sunset, when light

is thin and narrow, and shadows
emerge; thus, day and night become one
-with two-natures; stretched-out, glowing
above and within the horizon.

The twittering of birds, the rustle of trees,

children readying for sleep-; an overall
stagnation in life, comes over the valley,
even the spirits stand still in abnormal
silence, and gaze.

Notes by the author: "For me, twilight seems to lure and lull the soul into a deceptive confidence; yet it remains an enticement, bait for the most part, that attracts most living things into a glowing sensation; perhaps God's way of numbing us for a moment, while the earth orbits around the sun, and the moon around the earth, all pulling forces on us small human beings-perchance, it is needed for a moments stillness on the soul."

In Spanish

La Calma del Crep?sculo
(Sobre el valle del Mantaro)

El crep?sculo, ahora estaba comenzando. Entonces para
El sol, esto estaba cayendo-cayendo sobre
El valle del Mantaro de Per?. La suavidad.
De la niebla del valle, cubri? todo;
Desde los Andes hacia el valle-y A trav?s

(Luego yo not?)

El color del carb?n vegetal mezclado entre tierra
Y el cielo-; refluyendo entre esto era el

misterio del crep?sculo (la partida del d?a, para
El nacimiento de la noche); donde poco o nada
Fue dicho-donde el movimiento estaba casi muerto
(Entre el hombre y la bestia); ?pero sin naturaleza!

Junta un tiempo consigo mismo entre la calma y
La precauci?n, olvido silencioso y noche; a?n
Las sombras y sombras rondando mente

a mente con sus gr?as terrosas por un momento?

Junta el momento de la puesta de sol, cuando la luz
Es delgada y estrecha, y las sombras
surgen; mas, d?a y noche llegan a ser uno
-con dos naturalezas; estrechadas, encendidas
Sobre y dentro del horizonte.

El cantar de los pajaritos, el crujido de los ?rboles,
Los ni?os listos para dormir-; y sobretodo
Un estancamiento total de la vida, viene sobre el valle,
Aun los esp?ritus parados todav?a en un anormal
Silencio, y mirada fija.

Notas por el autor: "Para mi, el Crep?sculo parece atraer y calmar El alma dentro de una confidencia enga?osa; todav?a permanece una tentaci?n, Cebo por as? decirlo, que atrae mas cosas vivientes dentro de una sensaci?n Encendida; talvez el camino de Dios entumeci?ndonos por un momento, Mientras la tierra orbita alrededor del sol, y la luna alrededor de la tierra todas Las fuerzas jalando sobre nosotros peque?os humanos seres- posiblemente, Esto es necesario para momentos calmados sobre el alma".

Dennis Siluk is the author of many books, his most recent being, "Spell of the Andes," and is working on two more. A prolific writer, he lives in Lima, Peru and Minnesota. His site is http://dennissiluk.tripod.com you can see his book as http://www.amazon.com

---

Testimony to the Night [In English and Spanish]

In the quiet of the arctic night- In its deep northern skies, Dim are the lights, in its coldEvening frost?! Even the stars of the arctic Seem silently stone frozen!Here, here is where... Read More

It Was Not Me

It was not me as I am now. It was not me as I was then. It was then when God was truly in me. When God was in me, I was a... Read More

Robert Burns Love Poem: A Red, Red Rose

Robert Burns, a poor man, an educated man, and a ladies' man, is representative of Scotland, much like whisky, haggis, bagpipes, and kilts. He lived a life shortened by rheumatic heart disease, 1759-1796,... Read More

Writing Innovative Poetry

Writing innovative poetry, the kind of poetry that reputable literary journals publish, entails knowing exactly what each word of a poem does to the reader. A good poem should be evocative, skillful, and... Read More

Changes

I am not the one I was before yesterday.I cannot go back.I am not the one I will be tomorrow.I can not see that far ahead.I am who I am now, today.The person... Read More

Ole Bulky Jeeps & Paper, Ink and Rain [two Peoms]

Ole Bulky JeepsThrough late summer's heat These bulky shaped jeeps Ride by house and farm City and barn-Hungry for Spring-again, hoping to avoid The Slipping and sliding Of winter's ice and wind?[s]Their weighty... Read More

Tale of the Brick Maker, of San Jeronimo, Peru [In English and Spanish]

Tale of the Brick Maker, Of San Jer?nimo, Peru [A Cup of Sorrow]-1In the Andean mountains, within theMantaro Valley region of Peru, Isolated, secluded, tranquil, is the littlevillage of San Jer?nimo.... Read More

Two Poems: Boyhood, and Old Age [with a note on style]

BoyhoodOh me! Thy glorious days have flown! I mealy noticed, now they're gone, How quickly passed the flowers! Time does not stop youth's bells; It was like I was in a spell, And... Read More

Eight Poems

Out of the eight poems provided here [all previously unpublished], four are Poetic Prose, a few Visionary [what I call Vsionary anyhow], a few Free Verse, and a few with more form and... Read More

A Death in Cajamarca, Peru (Atahualpa, in Cajamarca ((in English and Spanish))

The Epic Poem:A Death in Cajamarca, Peru [Atahualpa, in Cajamarca]Advance: This is a version, not a translation of any kind, on the incarceration and death of Atahualpa the Inca King of the Inca... Read More

A Ship to Remember

Hammers. Timbers. Iron. Steel.They're laying down a mighty keel.As ant-like workers scurry roundI hear a truly riveting sound.And as she rises midst the swarmI see the beauty of her form.(He has no soul... Read More

Shadows of the Andes; Ollantayambo; and Cesar Vallejo [Poems in English and Spanish]

1) Shadows of the Andes [or: Song to the Andes]I shall blend-in, into theMountains- Into the faintest thinShadowsof the mountains! Like the moss on moistenedStoneLike a leaf blown far fromHome?(freshly fallen)!I shall blend-in,... Read More

The Treasure of Catalina Huanca (In English and Spanish)

Note: written after seeing the little adobe 16th century church San Sebastian, in San Jeronimo, by the mountains of Huancayo, Peru, after being taken there by the Wandering Quechua guide, Enrique (4-13-2005).The Treasure... Read More

Five Poems

Poems have different cores, or so I believe, and can only be structured well for certain figurative language-heart beats; like all counselors are not made for all clients, so all poems are not... Read More

The Poets Corner [Three Poems with a review]

The Poet's Corner [Three poem/ see review of poetry under the poems]The Poets CondorThe condor fly's Amongst the hillsIn open skies Of San Jerr?nimo, Near Huancayo?Forbidding any To near his path-Lest he dare... Read More

Walt Whitman, Romance With a Stranger

The concept of brief encounters, even romantic encounters, with a stranger recurs often in the verses of Walt Whitman.Take, for example, these lines from one of the inscriptions that Whitman wrote to his... Read More

Contract of Death [Now: in SPANISH and English]

Contract of DeathI heard today, the preacher say: "Daniel has warned us long ago, Of the trials and tribulations we Are now facing, with our foes?"He says the 'Antichrist' was now In Europe... Read More

Its What She Didnt Say

When I hear your voice inside my head it makes me think of you every single day as I fight back tears of sadness and wonder if you're okayMy life is empty without... Read More

The Last King of Mars [A Poetic Mytho]

[As Told by the Last] King: it was in the year 23,700 BC that one of the two moons of earth was hit by a meteor that of which, a great part of... Read More

The Cat

Truth is stranger than fiction according to many people who have seen what happens around me and to them, on many occasions. Sometimes I have had others affect me in the same way.... Read More

Wars, Air of Ambiguity [for: Lt. Laura Walker] in SPANISH and English

Wars, air of AmbiguityDedicated to 1st. Lt. Laura Walker (From an old soldier/Vietnam Veteran)[Advance] We fight in foreign lands not because we necessarily love its culture or land, but because we believe in... Read More

Elizabeth Barrett Browning: A Discussion of How Do I Love Thee?

"How Do I Love Thee?" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning was written in 1845 while she was being courted by the English poet, Robert Browning. The poem is also titled Sonnet XLIII from Sonnets... Read More

My hero, my best friend, my Grannio (a.k.a my Grandmother)

She raised me like I was her own daughter from the day I was born 32 years ago.She loved me like nobody else has ever loved me in my life.She stood by through... Read More

A Different Place...

I wish we had met 20 years ago... A different place, a different time when I actually had a chance for you to be mine...Although we cannot change what brought us together today,... Read More

Stone Beds [A Poem and an Advance]

Stone Beds [Pompeii's surge]Advance: after the great eruption of Pompeii's nearby volcano, Vesuvius, some two-thousand years ago in the heyday of the Roman Empire, what was left of the city were mostly ashes... Read More

My Grannio

I never thought I would have to say GOODBYE to my best friend? But that's what I had to do today I had to let go of her forever ?There was no other... Read More

Looking Out the Rear Window

The funeral rite concluded With the pastor shaking hands, Offering words of comfort I didn't quite understand.The undertakers came forth And summoned pallbearers' four. They marched beside the coffin Carrying it steady toward... Read More

Four Poems: Harvest of Apoplectic Horses [Katrinas Pathway]

Four Poems: Katrina's PathwayHarvest of Apoplectic Horses ((Dedicated to: Katrina)) crisis)It has happened before: Nearby and afar, Where the four-horses of Apocalypse With their flaming nostrils Breathed in the fury of the winds... Read More

The Ballad of: Brawling Mad-dog Sergeant Rook [Now in: SPANISH and English]

English VersionA bunch of us guys in the hutIn ?Nam Were playing cards, singing songs; In a solo-room, back of the hut Lay mad-dog, Sergeant Rook;And watching from a distance Was his sidekick,... Read More