For Maria

Night came quickly.

The wind came from afar, reeking of rain and war.

The trains hurriedly passed by, full of soldiers

we only just managed to glimpse them through the glass panes.

Great iron helmets barricaded the horizon.

The wet asphalt road glistened. Behind the windows

the women cleaned some dried beans and stayed silent.

And the footsteps of the patrol officer

seized the silence from the road and the warmth from the world.

Turn your eyes towards me so that I may see the sky

give me your hands so that I may hold on to my life.

How pale you are, my beloved!

It seemed someone was knocking on our door at night. Your mother,

dragging her thick wooden sandals, went to open.

No one. No one, she repeated. It must be the wind.

We huddled together. Because we knew

we knew, my beloved, that it wasn't the wind.

Thousands of people were dying outside our door.

See how our neighbourhood has been ruined, my beloved.

The wind enters and exits through the crevices of the houses

the walls are soaked, swollen, then collapse.

Where did so many of our neighbours go without saying goodbye

leaving their stone walls half-whitewashed

their smiles half-finished?

As soon as someone turned the corner we wouldn't see them again.

We’d say ‘Good morning’ and suddenly night had fallen.

Where are so many children going?

And that blond umbrella vendor who would sing in the morning

executed

and the kiosk owner who would hand us the change with a smile

executed

and the boy who would weigh our coal – remember him?

executed.

His cart overturned in a corner.

Their loved ones will now look at the night straight in the eye

each will bury their head in their beloved's shirt, like a dog, and smell it.

And the postman who would open the windows with his voice

executed.

So take your red lips away from me, Maria.

I’m cold.

Tonight against every wall life is being executed.

My beloved

I love you more than I can say with words

I’d want to die with you, if you were ever to die

and yet, my beloved

I couldn’t

I couldn't love you the way I used to.