The City Poem by Reva Kern

Crying
Crying of a woman
Interminable
Quiet
Almost tranquil -
In the night
Crying of a woman
Woke me -
First the noise of a lock,
Later some hesitating steps
And soon afterwards, the crying -
Intermittent sighs
Like the falling of innermost water
Dense,
Oppressive
Endless
Like a floodgate freed of accumulated water
Or like secret propellers
That stop and start its work
Moving the white time of the night -
The whole city has been filled with this crying
Up to the land where the trash piles
Under the domes of hospitals
On the summer balconies
In the discreet cells of prostitutes
On papers that slide across solitary avenues
With the warm vapor of certain military kitchens
On medals that repose in teak jewelry boxes
The crying of the woman who has cried
At length in a neighborhood room
For all those who dig their grave in a dream
For all those who watch the mine of time -
For me, who hears it without knowing
Another thing
Her fragile descent into bitter circumstances
Pursues the quiet spaces of the dawn.

Translated from CIUDAD by Álvaro Mutis