Freedom’s Tide in Acapulco

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Freedom’s Tide in Acapulco

On the sun-cracked cliffs of Acapulco
we built a campfire of pure intention,
sparks rising like rebel prayers
against a velvet-blue Mexican sky.

We sang of cashless dawns and borderless tomorrows,
of guns melted into garden tools,
of children trading fear for laughter
while stateless waves applauded the shore.

Yet midnight crept in heavy boots:
the sweet-talk of silver, the quick flare of anger,
desire’s teeth gleaming beneath handshake smiles.
Our circle frayed—
not by tyrants in uniform,
but by the tyrant we each keep leashed inside.

Still, beyond the fractures and unfinished songs,
a lone lighthouse blades through salt-dark air—
a promise that freedom,
though never finally ours,
remains the compass star
burning above every restless heart.

Commentary 

This poem dramatizes the rise and unraveling of the “Anarchapulco” experiment. The opening stanzas paint a hopeful scene: activists gathered on Acapulco’s cliffs, envisioning a society free from state control. Images such as “guns melted into garden tools” evoke radical transformation, while “stateless waves” suggest nature’s indifference to human borders.

The tone pivots at “midnight crept in heavy boots,” introducing greed, anger, and ignorance—the Buddhist three poisons—as internal saboteurs. The real threat is “the tyrant we each keep leashed inside,” underscoring the poem’s central paradox: people seeking perfect freedom carry innate impulses that corrode it.

Yet the closing lighthouse offers guarded optimism. Freedom is portrayed not as a destination but as a “compass star”—an unattainable ideal that nevertheless guides human striving. The poem thus balances realism about human frailty with an unyielding commitment to liberty’s pursuit.

아카풀코의 자유의 파도

아카풀코 햇볕에 갈라진 절벽 위에서
우리는 순수한 뜻의 모닥불을 피웠다
반역의 기도가 되는 불꽃들이
짙푸른 멕시코 하늘로 솟구쳤다

우리는 국경 없는 내일과 현금 없는 새벽을 노래했다
총을 녹여 만든 괭이,
두려움 대신 웃음을 거래하는 아이들,
국가 없는 파도가 해변을 박수 치는 광경을 노래했다

그러나 한밤은 묵직한 부츠를 신고 다가왔다
은빛 달콤한 속삭임, 불쑥 치솟는 분노,
악수 뒤에 번뜩이는 욕망의 이빨
우리의 원은 풀어졌다—
제복 입은 폭군이 아니라
각자 마음에 붙들어 둔 폭군 때문에

그럼에도 찢어진 노래와 균열 너머
외로운 등대가 짠내 나는 어둠을 가른다—
자유는, 비록 끝내 우리의 것이 되지 못하더라도,
불안에 요동치는 모든 가슴 위에
나침반별처럼 타오르리라는 약속.


해설

시의 첫 부분은 아카풀코 절벽에 모인 무정부주의자들의 낭만적 열정을 묘사합니다. ‘국경 없는 내일’과 ‘총을 녹여 괭이를 만든다’는 구절은 국가가 없는 이상향과 폭력의 종식을 상징합니다.

전환점은 ‘한밤은 묵직한 부츠를 신고 다가왔다’라는 대목입니다. 여기서 부츠는 탐욕·분노·무지를 의인화한 존재로, 외부 권력이 아닌 인간 내부의 한계를 드러냅니다. 국가 권력이 사라져도 인간 안의 3독심은 남아 공동체를 와해시킨다는 현실을 보여 주지요.

마지막 등대 이미지는 희망을 재점화합니다. 자유는 완전히 구축될 수 없는 이상이지만, 그 자체로 방향을 제시하는 ‘나침반 별’이라는 메시지입니다. 시는 이상과 현실의 간극을 인정하면서도, 자유라는 이상을 포기하지 말아야 함을 일인칭 화자의 목소리로 호소합니다.

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