Manuel Forcano

SI EL RELLOTGE DE SORRA ES TRENCA

Language: catalan

Translations: german (WENN DIE SANDUHR ZERBRICHT)

SI EL RELLOTGE DE SORRA ES TRENCA

Si el rellotge de sorra es trenca,
perd el temps per la cintura estreta
i el gest senzill de ser
s’acaba. Com quan la sequera
escanya els aiguamolls
i els peixos moren atrapats
en tolls cada vegada més petits.
En la llum de la tarda el tren travessava
una generosa zona de conreus:
aigua somrient per les canals
i jo reposava els ulls
en la vastitud dels arrossars en flor,
en les barraques construïdes als marjals,
en les ales blanques de les garses,
en la pell fosca dels búfals,
quan emergien lents del fang.
Aigua poada per a la set
aquest paisatge.
Veta d’or aquests records.
I ara t’hi arribes com un miner
amb la llum al casc. És ric
qui somriu en recordar.

Manuel Forcano

photo © institut ramon llull

* 02.08.1968, Barcelona, Spain
lives in: Barcelona, Spain

Manuel Forcano was born in Barcelona in 1968. He has a PhD in Semitic Languages from the University of Barcelona. Forcano has lectured Hebrew and Aramaic at the University of Barcelona. He has translated from Hebrew to Catalan the work of various modern Israeli poets such as Pinchas Sadeh, Ronni Someck and Yehuda Amichai, as well as the novel El mateix mar (The Same Sea, 2002) by Amos Oz. He has also translated Els viatges d’Ibn Battuta (Ibn Battuta’s Voyages, 2005) from Arabic to Catalan, in conjunction with Margarida Castells. Furthermore, Forcano has published some books of historical and literary essays: A fil d’espasa: Les croades vistes pels jueus (The Sword’s Edge: The Crusades Through Jewish Eyes, 2007) and Els jueus Catalans (The history of Catalan Jews, 2014).

photo © institut ramon llull

Forcano’s own works of poetry include nine published books, noteworthy among which are Com un persa (Like a Persian, 2001), winner of the 2002 Tivoli European Prize for best European poet under 36 years of age, El tren de Bagdad (Baghdad Train, 2004) and Llei d’estrangeria (Immigration Law, 2008). Forcano has worked as a documentary maker with the musician Jordi Savall at the International Foundation Centre for Early Music and since 2016 is the director of the Institut Ramon Llull.

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