fragments of nicanor parra

I give no one the right.

I worship a piece of rag.

I transport coffins.

I transport coffins.

I give no one the right.

I look ridiculous

In the sunlight,

Scourge of the soda fountains

I am dying of fury. 2

Then where could I go!

By that time the store was closed;

I would think about a slice of onion that I saw at supper

And about the abyss that separates us from the other abysses. 3

I don’t know how I wound up here
I was running happy and content
With my hat in my right hand
After a phosphorescent butterfly
Who drove me wild with joy

When suddenly pow! I tripped
And I don’t know what happened to the
garden
The landscape changed completely!

My mouth and nose are bleeding.

Really I don’t know what happened
Save me once and for all
Or shoot me in the back of the neck.

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