wildscape. literary journal

fisterra
by Rebecca Herrera Alegria

here]  
        

we are

                 gathered at the end of the earth to offer our clothes, our
                 language, and our tired feet over to the atlantic. the
                 july sun releases itself like a flood and time gives up.

                                                           here] we are ancient beings, gold-soaked in a thousand 
                                                           eyes.

a few thousand years ago this was where the trail ended
and where catholic saints burned incense over the rocks,
where they blurred the edges of the horizon line and the
pilgrims cracked themselves open.

                                                            [your journey ends here. you've anointed yourself in oil,    
                                                            you've carved spirits from pine trees, you've recited
                                                            every hymn over fire. listen close enough for the harp
                                                            strings and the trumpets. come down on the cliffside
                                                            and taste the galician saltwater. try not to fall over.]

| here]

on these european coastlines black-sail ships embarked
over the edge of the earth less than a few thousand years
ago.

                                                            [my grandmothers were burying jade and carving
                                                            basalt into prayers.]

                                                            [my grandmothers were rocking their babies below
                                                            deck and sung hymns in gold.]

across this wide atlantic lays centroamérica in contradictions.
across this wide atlantic we've cast nothing but moons and dreams. |

                                                            here] is where the druids built the earth from stone
                                                            and spirits.

about the author // Rebecca Herrera Alegria