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Said the Quechuan Lady on the Street Corner
Many have come here with their eyes upon the heavens,
The sun and the stars; and in the name of order,
Have defiled our mother.
Tell me, you who so praise your eyes;
Alas, you who’ve forsaken your ears,
Is this why you have come? what you long to see?
Once our shamans saw ends and beginnings.
Once we listened to thunder and rains;
They played from the peaks to the valleys.
Once even rocks sang a song.
But now our shamans our blind;
Now we are frightened by thunder and rain;
The drone of machines now sucks our soul dry,
And no longer do I even feel pain.
The Crossing Guard in Arequepa’s Plaza de Armas
Spine straight, feet fixed, he stands in the center
As speedy wheels whiz o’er the stone. His arm extends: Halt!
And he pivots to the right: Come forth! about face: Come forth!
With a nod to the crowd, “Buenos Dias,” Come forth!
His cheeks are round and rosy. Chords on his uniform hang
As he bows. A lady blushes. “My is he dashing.” Halt!
And he pivots: Come forth! And wheels whiz past
‘til a crowd has gathered: Halt! And he pivots: Come forth!
This is his day after day; and crossing the street, mine eyes look up,
“Art thou lost in the to and the fro and the spinning of wheels?”
And looking down, as if from the heavens, he says smiling, “Buenos Dias.”
William Palmer Patton has recently been published in the Barbaric Yawp.
Email: William Palmer Patton
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