Statues

      In Burgos or in Prague the statues of vanished heroes line the sides of the bridges. Night increases the shadow of the river that flows beneath their glory, and illuminates the figures with lights that feign a perennial memory.

      Every year someone ties to his neck the burden of love or money, throws herself into the waters, at scarcely a few meters from the Cid or from King Charles. Every year visitors look with curiosity and indifference at the motionless effigies, before crossing to the other side of the bridge and of life, and forgetting them.


Burgos is a city in northern Spain, within the province of the same name (formerly Old Castile). The Cid is Rodrigo or Ruy Díaz de Vivar (1040?-1099), a Spanish soldier and national hero.




Estatuas

      En Burgos o en Praga las estatuas de los héroes desaparecidos bordean los puentes. La noche agrava la sombra del río que corre bajo la gloria, e ilumina las figuras con luces que fingen un recuerdo perenne.

      Todos los años alguien se ata al cuello la carga del amor o del dinero y se arroja a las aguas, a escasos metros del Cid o del Rey Carlos. Todos los años los viajeros miran con curiosidad e indiferencia las efigies sedentes antes de pasar al otro lado del puente y de la vida, y olvidarlas.



María Rosa Lojo
trans. Brett Alan Sanders
Mudlark No. 27 | Contents
Curious Destiny (Curioso destino)