La Muerta, La Muerta!

[Absent Image]
Day of The Dead Fetish doll by AMC, 2006
Courtesy of OFF THE WALL FOLK ART


The Tomb of Amir Khusru

Trees heavy with birds hold
the afternoon up with their hands.
Arches and patios. A tank of water,
poison green, between red walls.
A corridor leads to the sanctuary:
beggars, flowers, leprosy, marble.

Tombs, two names, their stories:
Nizam Uddin, the wandering theologian,
Amir Khusru, the parrots tongue.
The saint and the poet. A grim
star spouts from a cupola.
Slime sparkles in the pool.

Amir Khusru, parrot and mockingbird:
the two halves of each moment,
muddy sorrow, voice of light.
Syllables, wandering fires,
vagabond architectures:
every poem is time, and burns.

-Octavio Paz