Yesterday an imposter, Nicolas Maduro, installed himself as President and Dictator of Venezuela after receiving less than 15% of the popular vote in the general election.
Andru is a 28 year old Venezuelan refugee living in Costa Rica. She is not only a friend but “mi nieta en Costa Rica” and I am blessed that she calls me “abuelito”.
She is a very gifted artist. She paints, sings, plays multiple instruments and yesterday, I found out that she is a poet.
I am attaching audio of her reading her poem in Spanish and, a photograph of the copy she wrote as well as her poem translated into English.
The Gaze from Exile
From exile, there is nothing left but the gaze,
a gaze that is like a bridge between yesterday and now,
full of nostalgia, and at the corner of the eye,
there, hidden as if trying not to make a fuss,
is that little ray of hope,
curled up behind the memories that hang,
like works of art in a museum.
But with every passing minute,
the memories fill up,
they drown in dust,
turn into mental voids,
get lost among whispers,
fade away like sea foam,
a sea, a sea of anecdotes
about a place that no longer exists.
Yet in the depths of the eye,
deep down inside,
there is an echo that beats,
that resonates and persists!
An echo of what cannot be forgotten,
of the very essence of the gaze that doesn’t change,
no matter how far it may be.
~ Andru Bec 2025
If you’d like to see more of Andru’s work, please click here to visit her Instagram page.