UNTIMELY FRIEND Poem by Maruja Vieira

Poetry, stay away.
Don't bother now my work.
with your
crystalline voice.

Leave me like that,
my back against the light.
The clouds' trip
could remind me
of another sky.

But here you are,
untimely friend,
who has
let you in?

I cannot help
but listen to you.

You tell me that lathes
create music,
a dull music
of waves
in a somber metallic conch.

And I answer to you
that the stars
from welding
illuminate
the workshop night
and crown with fire
the worker's brow,
who may be
the king
of that old story:
The Man in
the Iron Mask.