It knocked
at our door
it passed
from village to village,
from city to city
and our habitual
hospitality
gave it welcome,
and it settled
in our home
and it clung
to our clothes
and it stamped itself
on our faces
and now
when we wander
the roads of the world
behind our spontaneous smile
can be seen
despite ourselves
the shadow
of this ungrateful
guest.
translated by Brenda Porster
Elisa Kidané, Eritrean by birth, Combonian by vocation and citizen of the world by choice, was born in Segheneiti, Eritrea, in 1956. A Combonian missionary since 1980, after the first years of training she realized her dream and left for Latin America: Ecuador, Peru and Costa Rica. Sister Elisa has been working as a journalist in Verona since 1996 on the editorial board of "Raggio", the monthly magazine of the Combonian missionary sisters. She is editor of the news sections of the on-line periodical "Femmis" (www.femmis.org). She has published the poetry collections: Ho visto la speranza danzare (1995) and Fotocopia a colori(1999).