Poesia kaiera
Nola ibili ginen dantzan
Nire lehengusuaren ezkontzan
urdinez jantzia nintzen.
Hemeretzi urte neuzkan
eta dantzan ibili ginen biok, Aita, orbitan.
Aingeruak ur turrustapean legez
mugitzen ginen, sutan diren bi txori legez.
Gero itsasoa pitxer batean nola higitzen den,
halaxe, motelago are.
Orkestrak kantu hura jo zuen:
“Oi, nola ibili ginen dantzan geure ezkontzan!”,
eta zuk mahai biribil biragarri bat bainitza
erabili ninduzun jiraka baltseoan;
elkarren kuttun ginen, oso kuttun.
Orain, hilkutxan beztiturik zaudela,
zakur itsu bat bezain alferrikako,
orain, erasorako zelatan ibiltzeko ezgai,
doinu haren hotsak datozkit gogora.
Oxigeno hutsa zen edan genuen xanpaina,
eta fina, buruz buru, gure toparen txin-txina.
Xanpainak urpekari baten eran hartzen zuen arnas,
edalontziak kristalezkoak ziren, eta ezkongaiek
ametsetan heldu zioten elkarri,
1930eko dantza-maratoia irudi.
Gure ama, dantzaldiko erregina izan zen,
hogei gizonekin dantzatzen.
Zu, nirekin, hitz erdirik esan gabe.
Besarkatu ninduzunean, sugea mintzatu zen zure ordez.
Sugea, burlati, jainko izugarri baten eran
esnatu eta trinkotu zen nire kontra,
eta elkarrekin makurtu ginen,
bi zisne bakarti bezala.
[1972]
How We Danced
The night of my cousin’s wedding / I wore blue. / I was nineteen / and we danced, Father, we orbited. / We moved like angels washing themselves. / We moved like two birds on fire. / Then we moved like the sea in a jar, / slower and slower. / The orchestra played / “Oh how we danced on the night we were wed.” / And you waltzed me like a lazy Susan / and we were dear, / very dear. / Now that you are laid out, / useless as a blind dog, / now that you no longer lurk, / the song rings in my head. / Pure oxygen was the champagne we drank / and clicked our glasses, one to one. / The champagne breathed like a skin diver / and the glasses were crystal and the bride / and groom gripped each other in sleep / like nineteen-thirty marathon dancers. / Mother was a belle and danced with twenty men. / You danced with me never saying a word. / Instead the serpent spoke as you held me close. / The serpent, that mocker, woke up and pressed against me / like a great god and we bent together / like two lonely swans.