Geography Lesson

Here the Earth trembles
oblivious to seismographs,
it trembles gently each night
as if a bolt of lightning
would steer her in awe.

Dates
have been fading away,
as have the rivers I recall
and those I do not.

In the evening
herds return tamely.
The animals I know
move in packs,
like dogs around Valparaiso,
along with them drinking salt from rock pools
offspring of
unthinkable others.

And trotting along that she-Wolf
with the lavish tail,
she who gave its name to the inhabited,
protecting your shadow.
Cat among the tables today, heiress to
lightning, kleptomaniac
responsible for
ensuring that private property exceeds
the sheets domain: that time
that the air dreams throbbed, silence,
scallop …
Who drowned this gallop
relaunching it?

Translation: Richard Bueno Hudson