Two men in me,
in the smoke
prowls a fearful man
who goes by another name, has another soul
with another mind—
what I feel he denies,
what I dream he undreams,
what I hope he despairs,
and what I love he despises—
split
every healing I experience
he infects with an addiction,
torments me with fears,
intimately loves then rejects me,
certain of my love, then disorientated,
I want it, he resists it,
suspended between commitment and promiscuity.

I need the river,
I need to run by the water,
it bends and blends me
into the darkness of black crow feathers,
where I listen to stones speak of our inseparable spirits.

I need to be by the river
where I can dream of being
hundreds of miles away,
toting my rucksack,
hiking sage trails,
across rocky slopes
in boots,
green cap, beige pants, blue sports t-top and red pullover.

My love for the river is rooted in what’s fallen and what’s transformed.

Seasons survive
beneath leaf-skin
where I cocoon my memories,
and am released a moth
in the afternoon
to float by a honeysuckle vine strung along the river trees.

The river and I see through each other’s skin,
behind the eyes into the tunnels of water-bone and rushing marrow
into an even wider sky than ours
a larger earth than where I run,
a broader river than where I pray.

(Text of the poem translated into Spanish)

From within the Heavens

by Ayocuan Cuetzpaltzin

(translated by Miguel León-Portilla)

From within the heavens they come,
the beautiful flowers, the beautiful songs,
but our yearning spoils them,
our inventiveness makes them lose their fragrance,
although not those of the Chichimec prince Tecayehuatzin.
With his, rejoice!

Friendship is a shower of precious flowers
White tufts of heron feathers
are woven with precious red flowers,
among the branches of the trees
under which stroll and sip
the lords and nobles
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