Álvaro Belmonte; Miguel López; Maite López, Javier Ortuño

“Winds of the People Carry me along”

2012

Between Calle Sauce and Calle San Isidro Labrador

A large mural from 2012. The painters reflect over a blue background some faces shouting freedom next to animals that were referred to metaphorically by Miguel Hernández in his poetry, and particularly in the Winds of the People poem.

Twilight of the oxen
dawn is breaking.

Oxen die clothed
in humility and the smell of the stable:
eagles, lions
and bulls die clothed in pride,
and behind them, the sky
neither clouds over nor comes to an end.
The death-agony of oxen
has a small face,
that of the male animal
enlarges all of creation.

If I die, may I die
with my head held high.
Dead and twenty times dead,
my mouth against the wild grass,
I will have my teeth clenched
and my jaw resolute.

Singing I await death,
for there are nightingales that sing
above the guns
and in the midst of battles.