Kutimuyki Mamay Coming Back to You, Pachamama

Kutimuyki Mamay

Yuyayniymi kutirqamun.
Tiqsimuyum iquchasqa kachkan.
Manchakuy rimaymi intuchkan.
 
Cemento qisayuq,
plasticota uywaspa,
chaqwata saksaspam upayarquni.
 
Qunqasqayña muyaytam musqurquni
asnayninkunam ripunqaña
Puquy pacham miski waspikunata pukuchkan.
 
Yuyayninmi kutichichkan runata
musquy ñanninta maman pachaman.
Manchakuymi qarqurqa, manchakuy kutichichkan.
 
Kayqaya chayamuni, purun wawqiy sacha asnawan,
purun paniy miski qurakuna,
ruruq chakrakuna, takiq mayukuna sumaqyachiwan.
 
Pachamaymi qantu chakranpi,
ruruchisqan papata huñuspan,
kuyay quni tullpanpi yanupuwan,
Uchutam kutan, miski yuyukunata yuyayniy kutinanpaq.
 
Qantu chakra, intipa muyan
Qayapaway mamay
kutikamuy runa kayniy
kay pachapim kawsay suyasunki.
 

Coming Back to You, Pachamama

My memory has reawakened.
The world grows weak.
Everywhere you hear bad news.
 
In a concrete nest
we birth plastic,
dulled by the clamour of the city.
 
I dreamed of my neglected garden,
its scent will soon be gone.
Summer lightly wafts sweet aromas.
 
Memory leads back
To Mother Earth through dreams.
Fear had driven them out, fear brings them back now.
 
Here I have returned where my Brother Tree wraps me in his fragrance, as do my sisters, the sweet herbs,
The fertile soils and singing rivers revive my beauty.
 
My Pachamama, in her field of qantu flowers,
Harvests the potatoes that she fertilised, and cooks for me
On the warmth of her tullpa,
She grinds the chilli with sweet herbs to restore my taste.
 
Flower field of qantus, garden of the Inti sun.
Mother, invoke my being,
Return my humanity,
On this land, life is waiting for you.
 

Coming back to you mother.

My memory has awakened again.
The world is weakened.
News of fear is everywhery.
 
In a cement nest
Breeding plastic,
I have lulled myself with theoverflow of noise.
 
I have dreamed of my forgotten garden.
Its aromas will soon be gone.
Summer playfully blows sweet flavours.
 
Memory leads the humans back
To their mother earth by way of dreams.
Fear had expelled them, fear brings them back now.
 
Here I have returned,my brother tree envelops me in his fragance,as do my sisters the sweet wild herbs,
The fertile soils and singing rivers restore my beauty on to me.
 
My mother eath, in her field of qantus {inka flowers}
Harvest the potatoes that she fertilized,and cooks for me
On the love of her tullpa {campesino campfire]
She prepares the chilli ,the aromatic herbs to restore my taste.
 
Flower field of qantus,garden of the sun.
Mother,invoke my being,
Return my humanity,
On this land,life is waiting for you.
 

The poem by Quechua poet Raúl Cisneros is highly evocative and weaves through ideas of soil, Quechua cosmogony, and the relationship between a mother and her son. Cisneros comes from the peasant community of Pariamarca in Ayacucho, Peru, where he was a farmer, cattle herder, and baker, experiences that are infused in his work.

“Coming Back to You, Pachamama” is a poem that follows the narrator’s reminiscence through a dream of a “neglected garden,” “Mother Earth,” and the human experience of flowers, plants, and aromas of the Peruvian landscape.

In Cisneros’ poem, Pachamama is a revered goddess of the indigenous people of the Andes. She is an ever-present and independent deity who controls fertility and presides over planting and harvesting, a sign of renewal and renaissance.

To maintain a sense of place, voice, and geographical and linguistic specificity, we decided to keep some Quechua words in the poem, such as “tullpa” (a distinctive Peruvian hearth or stove), the aromatic flower fields of “qantus,” or the “Inti sun,” the sun God in Inca religion who was believed to be the ancestor of the Incas.

– Leo Boix

Original Poem by

Raúl Cisneros

Translated by

Constantina Higbee with The Poetry Translation Workshop Language

Quechua

Country

Peru