Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Jairo Guzmán

THE WOMEN ARRIVE

The women arrive
to serve cups of tears

so that my beast of light
drinks
so that humor
makes the black ocean of agony
bursts out laughing

Suffer for the men
— their sons
that is to say
their boyfriends
who break zithers
in their love —
and float with the woman
taken away from me
in search of my childhood doll

They guffaw when I tell them
I am not their doll
but the little donkey in the manger
of the Velázquez girl

I also tell them they will be my daughters
when they manage to make a toad ride a raven
with unheard of pleasure

If they would do that they would become
blue girls

I see gold flowing from their tears
I see a violet prism
among blue mists from Prussia
I see a white point
where the dark is dissolved
I see horses in stables of ether

They are rays

LLEGAN LAS MUJERES

LLEGAN LAS MUJERES

Llegan las mujeres
a servir copas de lágrimas

para que mi bestia de luz
libe
para que el humor
haga estallar de risa
el océano negro de sus angustias

Sufren por los hombres
-sus hijos
es decir
sus novios
que rompen cítaras
en su amor-
y flotan con la mujer
que de mi sustraen
buscando la muñeca de su infancia

Carcajean cuando les digo
que no soy una muñeca
sino un burrito en el pesebre
de la niña velazqueña

También les digo que serán mis hijas
cuando logren que una rana cabalgue un cuervo
con placer inaudito

Si eso hicieran se convertirían
en niñas azules

Veo el oro fluir de sus lágrimas
Veo un prisma violeta
entre brumas azul de Prusia
Veo un punto blanco
donde el oscuro se diluye
Veo caballos en establos de éter

Son rayos
Close

THE WOMEN ARRIVE

The women arrive
to serve cups of tears

so that my beast of light
drinks
so that humor
makes the black ocean of agony
bursts out laughing

Suffer for the men
— their sons
that is to say
their boyfriends
who break zithers
in their love —
and float with the woman
taken away from me
in search of my childhood doll

They guffaw when I tell them
I am not their doll
but the little donkey in the manger
of the Velázquez girl

I also tell them they will be my daughters
when they manage to make a toad ride a raven
with unheard of pleasure

If they would do that they would become
blue girls

I see gold flowing from their tears
I see a violet prism
among blue mists from Prussia
I see a white point
where the dark is dissolved
I see horses in stables of ether

They are rays

THE WOMEN ARRIVE

The women arrive
to serve cups of tears

so that my beast of light
drinks
so that humor
makes the black ocean of agony
bursts out laughing

Suffer for the men
— their sons
that is to say
their boyfriends
who break zithers
in their love —
and float with the woman
taken away from me
in search of my childhood doll

They guffaw when I tell them
I am not their doll
but the little donkey in the manger
of the Velázquez girl

I also tell them they will be my daughters
when they manage to make a toad ride a raven
with unheard of pleasure

If they would do that they would become
blue girls

I see gold flowing from their tears
I see a violet prism
among blue mists from Prussia
I see a white point
where the dark is dissolved
I see horses in stables of ether

They are rays
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
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