Cruz de palo
Enrique Cadícamo
Wooden Cross
By the creek, kissed by the willows
and filled with flowers, enamel, and light,
without letters, crepe, or carved names
stand next to a willow two wooden crosses.
A grave that still the thistle
could not enclose, and where the hoot
of some owl is heard, ominous,
on the summit of that old cross.
The willow cries a Hail Mary;
the ox driver, with every whistle he gives,
perhaps wants to say a blessed prayer
along with the complaints sung by the wise one...
The oldest say, making the sign of the cross,
that passing by at night through that place
they hear the ñacurutuces moaning
in such a fierce way that it makes them tremble...
(spoken)
And on bad nights, when the wind tangles
its vague lament in the willow grove,
by the wooden cross a light walks,
that runs and flies through the grass.
For a
