Aquella Tarde

That afternoon they went to the movies
They made love.
You asked: "Don't you smoke too much?"
I burned the calendar
And set back your clock.

That afternoon Christ slept in a photo booth.
A gray man walked a green dog.
A girl in her belly
Cradled a scorpion.

The supermarket cashiers, the fireflies, the devils
Tore off their two wings and darkened their light.
The ghosts of the castle, the inmates of the prison
Did not dream of an escape
If an airplane crossed
Their blue rectangle.

Do you remember that afternoon, the lovers hid
Naked on the balcony.

That afternoon, you remember, Cinderella waited
For her captor to arrive.

That afternoon the brunette from the peep show cried sulfur.
Someone sighed in the office.
He sought your ruin,
You a taxi to the station.

That afternoon the sensational news
Assaulted me in a doorway.
A woman bought tuna on sale.
Some legs opened and another bar closed.

The drunks, the singers, the whores, the students
Went to bed very early, cried arrows of ice.
The markets, the taverns, the schools, the churches
Silenced their song and the lovers said goodbye,
The virgin and Lucifer.

Do you remember that afternoon when Scheherazade forgot
Her stories and Baghdad burned.
That afternoon you remember, when the war broke out
My city shone.
That afternoon they went to the movies
They made love.