Testamentum by Efraín Bartolomé is a moving journey through the cherished places and memories of the Chiapas-born poet, in preparation for the inevitable separation from the physical world. Set against the generous backdrop of the lush jungle of southeastern Mexico, the author assigns tasks, invokes and brings back names, meticulously describes rituals and final circumstances while reflecting, alongside Homer, on the natural destiny of humanity: Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men.

Testamentum is book No. 35 in Darklight's bilingual poetry collection and was translated from Spanish to English by American translator Cynthia Steele.

5 (Fragment)

I have herded the river from the air       in fragile planes I have travelled its banks on horseback and on foot. I have navigated its course in canoes and in boats : in rowboats motorboats or rafts pushed with poles

I have eaten and drunk along its banks I have made my bed along its shores : I am a child of these lands and these waters

For no other reason I want to offer the river my ashes.

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