J U A N   S Á N C H E Z    P E L Á E Z
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FOUR POEMS

 

Translated by Guillermo Parra

 

Dark Affiliation

 

It is not the secular act of extracting flame by rubbing a
     stone.
              No.

To begin a truthful story one must attract
    in successive order of ideas the spirits,
    purgatory and hell.

Afterwards, human yearning runs the appointed risk.
Afterwards, one knows what will come or ignores it.

Afterwards, if the story is sad nostalgia occurs.
    We speak of silent films.

There is no before nor after; neither secular act nor truthful
    story.

A stone with a name or none. That's all.

One knows what follows. If you pretend, you're serene. If you doubt,
    pensive.

In the majority of cases, one knows nothing.

Some living men decipher, other living men speak to each other trustingly
    and there are dead men who speak to us with trust,
    but one knows nothing.

In the majority of cases, one knows nothing.

 

 

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