To Monsignor Alvarez and Nicaragua’s Banished Priests
A poem dedicated to the banished religious leaders
By Gioconda Belli (Confidencial)
They arrive in Rome,
that undesired journey.
In exchange for release from the harsh prison cell,
the vile and soulless seclusion,
they had to accept banishment.
Shorn of their homeland,
declared guilty without having sinned
they leave loyal flocks,
those known beloved faces,
the souls they staunchly nurtured.
They leave the green landscapes, the downpours,
the life they knew, their household possessions,
the daily tastes and teachings,
All a cruel design of cunning rulers,
feverish minds
who in the name of the God they call their own
act as devils.
———-