Why, Death, should I fear you?
\nAre you not my flunkey, faithfully serving
\nbeside me? Do I not watch\u00a0everything you do?
\nAre you not a mere husk of a man,
\ndocile, oblivious of whatever
\nI don\u2019t want you to see? Do you
\nnot long to have what is mine, glory,
\nsolitude, love, while but an obsequious
\nlackey\u00a0at my beck and call?
\nDo I not guide you around like a dog?
\nDo you not pliantly lip the words
\nI put into your mouth? Do you not slavishly
\nrelish the slightest kindness I grant?
\nWhat can you see or say without me?
\nWhere can you go? Dead, shall I
\nnot become, Death, your own
\ndeath, whom you, Death,\u00a0should fear,
\nshould pamper, should love?<\/p>\n
After the Spanish of Juan Ram\u00f3n Jimenez<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00bfComo, muerte, tenerte<\/em> ***<\/p>\n J.R.J. was Andalusian, but I think of the poem as Mexican and I had a belt inscribed in Cuetzalan with its opening line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why, Death, should I fear you? Are you not my flunkey, faithfully serving beside me? Do I not watch\u00a0everything you do? Are you not a mere husk of a man, docile, oblivious of whatever I don\u2019t want you to see? Do you not long to have what is mine, glory, solitude, love, while but an … <\/p>\n
\n miedo? \u00bfNo estas conmigo aqu\u00ed trabajando?<\/em>
\n \u00bfNo te toco en mis ojos; no me dices<\/em>
\n que no sabes de nada, que eres hueca,<\/em>
\n inconsciente y pac\u00edfica? \u00bfNo gozas,<\/em>
\n conmigo, todo: gloria, soledad,<\/em>
\n amor, hasta tus tu\u00e9tanos?<\/em>
\n \u00bfNo me est\u00e1s aguantando,<\/em>
\n muerte, de pie la vida?<\/em>
\n \u00bfNo te traigo y te llevo, ciega,<\/em>
\n como tu lazarillo? \u00bfNo repites<\/em>
\n con tu boca pasiva<\/em>
\n lo que quiero que digas? \u00bfNo soportas,<\/em>
\n esclava, la bondad con que te obligo?<\/em>
\n \u00bfQue ver\u00e1s, que dir\u00e1s, ad\u00f3nde ir\u00e1s<\/em>
\n sin m\u00ed? \u00bfNo sere yo, muerte,<\/em>
\n tu muerte, a quien tu, muerte,<\/em>
\n debes temer, mimar, amar?<\/em><\/p>\n