Statute of Woman and Man

Article I.
It is decreed
that life now has value,
that truth now has value,
and that offering our hands
we will all work
for true life.

Article II.
It is decreed
that all the days of the week,
including the grayest of Tuesdays,
have the right to become
Sunday mornings.

Article III.
It is decreed that,
from this very instant,
there will be sunflowers in all the windows,
that the sunflowers have the right
to open within the shadow;
and that the windows must remain open
all day for the green
where hope grows.

Article IV:
It is decreed that man*
never more will need
to doubt man.
That man will trust in man
as the palm tree trusts in the wind,
as the wind trusts in the air,
as the air trusts in the blue field
of the sky.

Man will trust in man
as a child trusts in another child.

Article V.
It is decreed that men will be free from the yoke of lies.
Nevermore will it be necessary to use
the shield of silence
or the armor of words.
Man shall sit at the table
with a clear gaze,
for the truth will be served
before dessert.

Article VI.
It is established,
for ten centuries,
the practice dreamed by the prophet Isaías,
and the wolf and the sheep will graze together
and the food of both will taste of dawn.

Article VII.
By irrevocable decree,
the everlasting kingdom
of justice and clarity
is hereby established.
And joy will be a generous flag
forever raised
In the soul of the people.

Article VIII.
It is decreed
that the greatest pain
has always been and always will be
not being able to give love
to whom you love,
knowing that it's water
Who gives the plant
the miracle of the flower.

Article IX.
It is hereby permitted
that the daily bread
have in man the sign of his sweat.
But above all
that it always have
The warm taste
of tenderness.

Article X.
It is hereby permitted
to any person,
At any hour of life,
The use of the white dress.

Article XI.
It is decreed,
by definition,
that man
is an animal who loves,
and that for that reason is beautiful,
much more beautiful
than the morning star.

Article XII.
It is decreed that nothing
will be obligatory or banned.
Everything will be permitted,
even playing with rhinoceroses
and walking in the afternoons
with an immense begonia in the lapel.

Only one thing is prohibited:
to love without love.

Article XIII.
It is decreed that money
nevermore will be able to buy the sun
of future mornings.
Expelled from the great coffer of fear,
money will be transformed
into a fraternal sword
in order to defend the right to sing
and the feast of the day that dawned.

Final Article
It is hereby forbidden
to use the word Freedom,
which will be excised from the dictionaries
and the treacherous swamp of mouths.
From this moment on
freedom will be something alive and transparent,
like fire or a river,
or like a seed of wheat
and its dwelling will forever be
the heart of man.

by the Brazilian poet Thiago de Mello (1964) translated from Portuguese to Spanish by Pablo Neruda and from Spanish to English by FTS.

* When you read or speak the word man also hear the word woman, in the sense of this poem it is my view there is no intended seperation.