Advice for the Strong Woman – Gioconda Belli, Nicaragua – 1948

"If you are a strong woman
protect yourself from the hordes that will want
have lunch with your heart.
They use all the disguises of the carnivals of the land:
they dress up as guilt, as opportunities, as prices that need to be paid.
They poke your soul; they put the steel of their looks or their tears
to the deepest magma of your essence
not to be illuminated by your fire
if not to extinguish the passion
the erudition of your fantasies.

If you are a strong woman
you have to know that the air that nourishes you
also carries parasites, blowflies,
tiny insects that will seek to lodge in your blood
and nourish yourself with what is solid and great within you.

Do not lose compassion, but fear everything that leads you
denying you the word, hiding who you are,
anything that forces you to slow down
and promise you an earthly kingdom in return
of a complacent smile.

If you are a strong woman
prepare for battle:
learn to be alone
sleeping in absolute darkness without fear
May no one throw ropes at you when the storm rages
swimming against the current.

Train yourself in the crafts of reflection and intellect.
Read, make love to yourself, build your castle
surrounds it with deep ditches
but make it wide doors and windows.

It is essential that you cultivate great friendships
that those around you and who want to know what you are
that you make a circle of fires and light them in the center of your dwelling
an ever-burning greenhouse where the fervor of your dreams is maintained.

If you are a strong woman
protect yourself with words and trees
and invokes the memory of ancient women.

You will know that you are a magnetic field
how far will the rusty nails travel howling
and the deadly oxide of all shipwrecks.
Support, but support yourself first.
Keep your distance.
It builds you. It takes care of you.
Treasure your power.
Defend him.
Do it for yourself.
I ask you on behalf of all of us.

(translated by Jeff Vasques)