Lewis Fleming from St Thomas Aquinas RC
Lewis Fleming from St Thomas Aquinas RC
Content warning: This poem contains themes and language that may be too mature for smaller children. We recommend supervised listening.
La Fosa
Entre las ramas de la tierra queda un
secreto marchito
Acallados y chitos son
los azules y rojos se quedan pares
En las grietas del reino dividido yacen
partidos.
Nos dicen que si pudieran
lo gritarían como debieran
Que él fue el culpable
que les dejó sin sus padres
Nuestro suceso; Nuestra fosa
Una parte de la patria le resta
importancia
Mientras aún enterraban al pobre
poeta
Su cuerpo bendito cubierto por debajo
de su propia tierra
Malditos sean todos y el bribón que lo
hizo
En el nombre de los ‘maricas’, vascos y
‘polacos’ fallecidos
Para que no olvidemos jamás lo que
les sucedió
Porque ahora están en las nubes del
cielo
Libres de diablos rojos y sus pistoleros.
Page Break
English Translation
The Pit
In the midst of the Earth’s branches
lies a withered secret
Silenced and shushed
The Blues and Reds left paired
In the cracks of the broken kingdom
they lie divided
They would tell us if they could
Shout it at as they should
That he was to blame
That it was he who left their own orphaned
Our Success; Our pit
A part of the motherland overlooked.
While even still they buried
the doomed poet
His blessed body covered underneath
his own soil
Curse them all and the bastard that
did it
In the name of the “Faggots”, Basques
and “Poles” who passed.
Lest we forget what befell them alas.
For at last they are in the heavens
Free from red devils and their
assassins.
Copyright: This poem was recorded as part of the Mother Tongue Other Tongue project.
About Lewis Fleming from St Thomas Aquinas RC
“I chose to write this poem about ’Las Fosas Comunes’. Las Fosas were pits used to bury many of those who were murdered during the Spanish Civil War, many of whom were opposition to Franco and his regime. This included various groups of peoples living in Spain at the time such as Catalans, Basques and Homosexuals. One man in particular who inspired me to write this poem was the famous Spanish poet Federico García Lorca who was assassinated on 18th August 1936. I wanted to write this poem to commemorate those who, like Lorca, tragically lost their lives. I also wrote it to inform people in other countries of what happened in Spain at this time as they may be completely unaware as it falls in line with the build-up to World War II."