Ella
Ella
Embedded Files
By: Mila Ardila
The Colours of Culture 2025 Exhibition
There is a formidable Woman
Living alone at the center of Her finca
She tends to Her garden
Watering the native plants
Growing healthy and strong
Just to feed Her
From spring to winter
And winter to fall
Her hearth hidden by the corn stalks
Protecting Her
From those who disguise hunger and threat
Bandits and simple thieves
Her animals run free
Receiving scraps
All given with love
This endless exchange
Cycles
Of growth, giving, and receiving
Between Her and Life
Will be unending
Because even
In Her period of death
Her body will feed the soil
That fed Her
Nurtured Her
And housed Her
Even after Her soul
Is no longer on Her land
She will provide
With everything She has
With everything She is
And this Formidable woman
Will grow
Into a thick and strong tree
Rings growing around Her
Like the women that preceded Her
Her canopy following the poetry
Of the winds that visit Her
Fluttering in Her direction
Her crown leaves swaying
Alongside those of Her relatives
Who once also ran
Barefoot
Around their finca
Their footprints forever a part
Of the moss of the earth
Grand undergrowth of the land
And this formidable Woman
With Her hair strong
Flowing down Her back
Greyed and free
Labouring with nine fingers
Surviving
Living
Thriving
Despite the unique crawl
Against Her movements
Her liberty
This beckoning Woman
Nunca en temor
Of the insignificant
Modern pangs
Of loneliness and existence
She knows all that there is
And all that will be
To give and receive
Is all
To toil the earth and soil
beneath Her
For Her
And Her ancestors before Her
And all who will come after Her
Y así,
Esa Mujer formidable
Que no podré nunca conocer
De por las tierras que nos separan
Mujer formidable
Que vive en su finca
En lo alto
En la montaña
Que alcanza las nubes
Tan lejos
Que ni un viaje en el tiempo
Me permitiría conocerla
Y esta alienación,
Esta distancia de mi patria
Me roba de la Mujer formidable
Y de Su candor
¿Cómo oír la poesía de Sus palabras?
¿Conocer la riqueza de Su imaginación?
¿La sinceridad de Su risa?
¿Cómo traducir el enlazo de Su abrazo
Sin el gran amor que se entrega
De generación en generación?
And so,
Formidable Woman
That I will never know
For lands separate us
Formidable Woman
That lives on Her finca
In the high
Of the mountains
Reaching even the clouds
Endlessly distant
That not even a return in time
Could allow me
To know Her
And this alienation
Deep distance
From my homeland
Robs me
Of the formidable Woman
And Her candor
How could I ever hear
The poetry of Her words?
Or the richness
Of Her imagination?
The sincerity
Of Her laughter?
What of the possibility
Of translating
The embrace of Her hold
Without that Great love
That is given
From generation to generation?
about the poet
Mila is an ibpoc poet and photographer who grew up in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. She now resides in Gaspésie where she writes poetry and works at the local cafe. In her free time, she tends to her flowers and goes for cold ocean dips.
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