an offering

[flordehinojos]

to benazir bhutto of a poem written in 1891 by José Martí while he was in exile here in the u.s.a.

Yo quiero cuando me muera
sin patria pero sin amo
tener en mi tumba afuera
un ramo de flores
y una bandera.



I want when i die
without country but without master
to have on my tomb outside
a bouquet of flowers
and a flag.

it seems that while bhutto had been in exile for many years, living, in effect, as the poem says, without country but without master, and had recently returned to pakistan she was forging the dream of having a free and democratic country.

it also seems that while she was forging that dream, she knew that attempts were going to be made on her life, and she was prepared to give her life, if need be, towards the goal of a free and democratic pakistan ...

like jose marti, given the chose of living in chains or as a free woman in a free country, she preferred to have on her tomb outside, a bouquet of flowers and a flag (the flag of a free pakistan)... symbolic of her dream of a free pakistan.

pushing for elections now and pushing for someone to take her place now, condoleezza rice and george walker bush are laboring to keep benazir bhutto from becoming a martyr and, she, herself, the flower outside her grave which cound ignite a real pakistani revolution for a free and democratic pakistan.

[Jim__]

1. A beautiful poem - but tell me ...

... does the meaning come across in English? Or, is there more to it in Spanish?

I'm asking because I'm always suspicious about the translation of a poem.

[flordehinojos]

2. i am not sure about how the meaning comes out in english ...

it is the poem of a man, the who fought for our indepence from spain in 1898, and who is reputed to have loved his country, cuba, who says in the poem that he prefers to die without country and without a master and in some way foreshadows his death (which occurred during a battle against the spaniars in Ocho Rios, Cuba, in 1898) for the opportunity to have outside of his tomb a bouquet of flowers (which represent freedom) and the cuban flag for which he was willing to give his life.

there is a paralell between the poem, his life, and that of benazir bhutto's which comes full circle with her recent assassination. i think.

the entire poem as i know it is only those five lines.

[Jim__]

3. Thanks.