A Xusticia Pola Man - Rosalia de Castro

Aqués que tés fama d'honrados na vila
roubáronme tanta brancura qu'eu tiña;
botáronme estrume nas galas dun día,
a roupa de cote puñéronma en tiras.
Nin pedras deixaron en dond'eu vivira;
sin lar, sin abrigo, morei nas curtiñas;
ó raso cas lebres dormín nas campías;
meus fillos....¡meus anxos! ....que tant'eu quería,
¡morreron, morreron ca fame que tiñan!
Quedei deshonrada, mucháronm' a vida,
fixéronm' un leito de toxos e silvas;
i en tanto, os paposos de sangue maldita,
tranquilos nun leito de rosas dormían.

- Salvádeme ¡ouh, xueces! berrei.....¡Tolería!
De min se mofaron, vendeum'a xusticia.
- Bon Dios, axudaime, berrei, berrei inda....
tan alto qu'estaba, bon Dios non m'oira.
Estonces, cal loba doente ou ferida,
dun salto con rabia pillei a fouciña,
rondei paseniño....(ne' as herbas sentían)
i a lúa escondíase, i a fera dormía
cos seus compañeiros en cama mullida.

Mireinos con calma, i as mans estendidas,
dun golpe ¡dun soio! deixeinos sin vida.
I ó lado, contenta, senteime das vítimas,
tranquila, esperando pola alba do día.


I estonces....estonces cumpreuse a xusticia:
eu, neles; i as leises, na man qu'os ferira.     


First Hand Justice

Those who are known in the village to be respectable
Robbed me of all the linen I possessed,
They covered my finery with manure,
They tore up my best clothes
They didn't even leave the stones of my house.
Without hearth nor shelter I lived in the vegetable plot.
Like the hare I slept in the fields;
My children......my angels! that I loved so much!
My children died from the hunger they suffered!
Scorned, despised, they withered my life
They made me a bed of gorse and twigs.
All the while, pampered, the cursed ones lay
Peacefully, sleeping in beds of roses. 

Save me, O you Judges, I cried......Folly!
They mocked me, they sold my justice.
Good God! Help me! I cried, I cried again.
So high up you are Good God that you do not hear me!
Then, like a wounded, sick she-wolf
I grabbed hold of my scythe
I crept softly so not even the grass could hear me
And the moon hid me, to where the beasts slept
Holding each other in their soft beds.

I looked at them calmly, and stretched out my hands,
And with one blow, just one blow, I left them lifeless.
Happy, I sat next to my victims,
Calmly waiting for the dawn of the day.

And then......then, justice was done to them by me,
The law in the hands of she who had been wounded.