Dichoso el árbol que es apenas sensitivo,
y más la piedra dura, porque ésta ya no siente…
~ Rubén Darío, “Lo fatal”
I don’t know that the tree is neither
happy nor sentient, or that the rock
wouldn’t feel a thing: why not light
or shade, why not parched summer
if sediment breaks down from water
flowing? Wasn’t it just last weekend
that the boy we heard of yesterday as dead,
looked for one moment straight into our eyes
as he bagged the last of our groceries,
saying Did you find everything you need?