Love and the Flowers
Love
&
the
Flowers
Jeremy D. Colon
 

Darling there is a worm in your flower
Among other things
And the sight of his grey face
Brings to mind the night

On a slow trolley
Beating down the tracks to Madrid
I saw a young man of wit and determination
Eating a wild red carnation.

Love and the flowers
And such a past is not too easy to forget;
Sometimes I think it gets too soon too late ---
And sometimes I think of the terrible dark space
Lying between stars and petals.

There is a worm in your flower darling
And your mind like mine
Is growing tattered
And the flakes of night come drifting down
And I do love your poor old bones too dearly.

Love and the flowers
And age drawing on like a shawl.
It seems to me the days are coming shorter
And the sun takes such a crooked path
Down to the crooked sea.

--- Translation © 1977 Carlos Amantea


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