Los Locos y Los Niños
Silvina Garre
The Madmen and The Children
The madman of my town said he was God
and how much saner than many he was
a summer corner and a hand of the night
threatening behind the sexagenarian beret
Madness and childhood embrace each other
with a piece of infinity
and a hint of truth tore the world
from the depths of delirium
Don't go to the river, kid, before it clears up
that the heart burns us and the water knows it.
Don't go to the river, kid, before the morning
that the moon in the sky pushes and the moon in the water calls.
The madmen in the fog
and the children in the dawn of their crazy words
as people say each in their own way never lies
but the madmen are killed
and the children grow
The madman of my town
left in front of my door before leaving
a piece of his wings,
a starry sky
and the recommendation not to tell anyone
what he left me.
No one wanted to see that eye
where one could see beyond
at night a child stayed alone
asking without speaking.
No one wants a sky, kid, so high in nothingness
no one wants the roof of dawn.
Everyone looks at everything, kid, with cold eyes
and in my shadow they fear seeing their own emptiness.
The madmen in the fog
and the children in the dawn of their crazy words.
As people say each in their own way never lies
but the madmen are killed
and the children grow
but the madmen are killed
and the children grow
