Rise Up Review
If I Get Lost, Mom
If I don't come home to be scolded one night,
don't look for me,
don't pay my ransom.
Don't give our love to full hands,
don't shut up in fear,
don't stop looking for me.
Don't play their game.
Love, Mom,
don't stop looking for me,
because I'm your blood
and you're my bastion.
And if you leave me, Mom,
don't believe your silence,
don't take them into account,
don't tell them you're looking forward to my return.
And don't tell, Mom, you're scared to death.
—Estrella del Valle (Translated by Toshiya Kamei)
Si me pierdo mamá
Si una noche no llego para que me regañe,
no me busque,
no pague mi rescate.
No le de nuestro amor a manos llenas,
no le calle de miedo,
no deje de buscarme.
No le juegue su juego.
Amor, mamá,
no pare de encontrarme,
Porque yo soy su sangre
y usted es mi baluarte;
Y si me deja, mamá,
no les crea su silencio,
no los tome usted en cuenta,
no les diga que espera con ansias mi regreso.
Y no le diga, mamá, que está muerta de miedo.
—Estrella del ValleBorn in Córdoba, Veracruz, Estrella del Valle now lives in El Paso, Texas. Her most recent poetry collection, Calima: CAution LIve aniMAls, was published in 2018. Translations of her poems have appeared in various journals, including Burnside Review, Coe Review, Controlled Burn, International Poetry Review, and Pembroke Magazine.
