Poems for children – Cotelito

From the nothingness, green
by Adriana Fernández

A poem about Vuelvo como un jardín después del invierno [I Return Like a Garden After Winter], Cotelito’s intervention in the cafe of the Museo Moderno

Once upon a time,

there was a closed space.

Its doors

and its locks,

its gates

and padlocks:

silent.

Once upon a time,

there was a closed space,

without any eyes

in the courtyards and windows:

without any gazes.

Once upon a time,

there was a closed space,

without any noises

almost dismantled:

silenced.

Nothing inside

and, from nothing,

comes nothing… they say.

But from the nothing, seeds float

and sprouts grow

from the nothing

and flowers bloom

from the nothing

and from the nothingness, green emerges,

green, hushed and silent.

And green wants water

and hands

and eyes that look

the green

beauty

solid green,

and clinging.

And for the nothing

comes the green

several bodies,

to care for it.

Hands to water it,

and mouths

to sigh for it.

Green that is cared for,

looked at.

Green it grows,

and little legs

run through it,

green nothingness that grows

from the nothing nothing.

And green and legs

and eyes and mouths,

press against the locks,

the gates, the doors,

because there is nothing

that green

does not open.