Fires of St John
Our fate, spilled lead, it can’t be altered
you can do nothing about it.
They spilled the lead in the water pitcher under the stars
and let the fires burn.
If you stand naked before the mirror at midnight
you see
you see the man moving through the mirror’s depth
your destined man, who will rule your body
in loneliness and in silence, the man
of loneliness and silence
and let the fires burn.
At the hour when one day ends and the other hasn’t commenced
at the hour when time is stopped
you need to find the man
who now and from the very beginning ruled your body
you must search for him, so that someone else may find him
when you are dead.
It’s the children who light the fires and yell before the fires
in the hot night
(Was there ever a fire not started by a child,
oh, Herostratus)
and they throw salt in the flames to sparkle it
(How strange the houses suddenly stare at us
the crucibles of men, when the gleam of fire
falls on them).
But you who met with the stone’s grace on the sea-whipped rock
the evening when stillness came
you heard from afar the human voice of solitude and silence
in your body
that night of St John
when all the fires went out
and you studied the ashes under the stars.
Libros Libertad 