by Juan Ramón Jiménez
In the subway. The suffragette, with an ugliness that is positively
exhibitionistic, and some stale pastry for a hat, rises toward a red-faced
old man who comes in and, with a domineering dignity, offers him her
seat. He resists, looking with divine humility at the snow between two
Negro women’s hats. She takes him by the arm. He becomes indignant
and looks as though he might hit someone. She sits him down, once
and for all, without speaking. He goes on talking soundlessly, moving
his raised hands furiously, a final spark of blood in his clear eyes that
are weak and blue.
From:
Lorca and Jiménez: selected poems, Robert Bly - Beacon Press, 1997
Copyright ©:
Translated by Robert Bly
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