From the Spanish
Oppression of a huge tree felled.
Black eyebrows knit, as if to stitch
together thought. Face with the fine
curved line a bird's flight pencils in
the sky. Nose like a falcon's beak.
Feathery, white hair. Leaf-stripped tree
gripped in ice. A razoring glint
of water welled in a part-closed
stagnant eye. I swat at the flies
with a loose linen cloth. Across
the sheer face of a corpse a vague
shadow slips: a condor's.
Also in flight.
(1974, rev 2006. Based on the Spanish of Ruben Dario)
I came across the 'original' of this yesterday - I thought I'd lost all the
early poems I'd written. I did feel though this had possibilities, I heavily
revised it, but here we are, me coming on 51 via 19 via Latin America late
ninetenth century.
Best
Dave
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