Ancient Riverbank




It has rained so much since then,
Then, when teeth weren’t flesh, but
Small days like an ignorant river
Calling to his parents because he feels tired,
It has rained so much since then,
That the step is already forgotten in his head.

Some say yes, others say no;
But yes and no aren’t small waves,
Balance of a sky within another sky,
As a love is inside another love,
As forgetting is inside of forgetting.

As torture with ire asks for fiestas
Amid the most virile nights,
We won’t do anything but cut into life,
Smiling blindly in defeat,
While the years, dead as to a dead man,
Open their tomb of extinguished stars.


Luis Cernuda