Ballad of the Moon and My Homeland

The moon is not a distant lantern

but the hand that caresses the mountain range

and descends slowly, through the valleys,

until it touches the river that bears the name of us all.

It leans over the endless plains

like one who peers into the heart of what they love,

and each stalk of wheat that bends beneath its light

is a vow silently renewed.

It knows the paths the wind travels,

the ancient footprints the earth does not forget,

the slow fire that dwells in every heart

—that fire that does not go out even when storms pass.

There is no distance that separates them,

no wall, no border, no oblivion.

The moon is the mirror where my homeland sees its soul,

and my homeland is the land where the moon learns to be eternal.

They embrace in the wordless night,

like two lovers who no longer need to say anything:

she, light that falls;  The homeland, the land that receives,

and between the two, the whole world is born each dawn

GRACIELA NOEMI VILLAVERDE is a writer and poet from Concepción del Uruguay (Entre Rios) Argentina. Based in Buenos Aires, she graduated in letters and is the author of seven books in the poetry genre, awarded several times worldwide. She works as World Manager of Educational and Social Projects of the Hispanic World Union of Writers, and UHE World Honorary President of the Activa de la Sade, Argentine Society of Writers. She’s a Commissioner of Honor in the executive cabinet in the Educational and Social Relations Division of the UNACCC South America, Argentina Chapter.