Cavafiana

Desire shows up suddenly,
Out of no where, for no reason.
In the kitchen, out walking in the street.
One look, one wave is enough, one accidental touch.
But two bodies
will also have their twilight,
their routines of loving and dreaming,
of gestures repeated until weariness.
Smiles fall away.
Ashes smother the mouths
With quiet disdain.
Two bodies fill up with death
One in front of the other.
The rest is silence.

Poem by María Mercedes Carranza

Translated by Jaime Manrique and David Cameron
Published in BOMB Magazine