But their feet soaked up blood, and the wanton-in-heart
spattered the froth of the lake on the temple walls.
The infallible flash of our lifetime's redemption was revealed;
for the mOon bathed the blistering horse-flesh
with water drops-
not the living shape of a child, but the carrion stilled on the sand.
And the frosts went abroad on the earth, singing songs,
and the frogs lit their flares on the double shore of the river.
The cow is accursed-is accursed, accursed-
that banishes sleep, said the pharisees,
and withdrew through the riotous streets to their houses,
jostling the drunkards and spitting the salt of the sacrifice,
while blood moved behind them, with a noise like the bleating of
lambs.
So it befell, on a time;
and the whole earth awakened, shedding tremulous rivers of moths.
(18 October
1929,
New York)
(Translated from the Spanish by Ben Belitt )
