Liliana Valenzuela

I see the Big Bang in your eyes

I gaze into your eyes
and we are same looking into same
since the time before we were born
Your blue eyes wander right and left
then relax 
we look past time and space
the neighboring houses
the country
the planet
all the way to the galaxy and the Big Bang

Is this the same awareness
since before humans existed?
Is this the same awareness
since before we were born?

If animals and rocks share
this knowing
why hunger, why war?

I gaze into your eyes
and see me, see all of us, 
see my Neanderthal ancestors
my DNA branches splitting
in one unbroken chain.


Liliana Valenzuela is the author of Codex of Love: Bendita ternura (FlowerSong Books, 2020) and other works. She is also the acclaimed Spanish language translator of works by Sandra Cisneros, Julia Alvarez, Denise Chávez, and other writers. A CantoMundo and Macondo fellow, she lives and works in Austin, Texas. 

 

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