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“Willow” by César Vallejo 🇵🇪 (16 Mar 1892 – 15 Apr 1938)
Translated from the Spanish by Clayton Eshleman
Lyricism of winter, rustle of crepe,
now when the hasty departure nears;
oracular voices of plaintive songs
that in the evening pray for a farewell.
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Vision of the burial of my illusions
in the very tomb of the mortal wound.
Veronican charity from unknown regions,
where at the price of ether life is lost.
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Near dawn I will depart in tears;
and while my years go on curving,
my swift course will curve scythes.
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And under the cold holy oils of a dying moon,
with the timbre of steel in the indolent earth,
dogs, howling, will dig a good-bye.