Solstice

by Livia Natalia (Brazil)
translated by Tiffany Higgins

In a time of departed men
no crossing is possible
and Odysseus only skirts the edges
of the fleshy navel.

In a time of departed men
an immense tapestry is woven
recording the death of 54 million Brazilians — alive.

In a time of departed men
the foxes guard the sweet grapes
and the sirens don’t sing to drive any sailors crazy.

The days pass heavily, narrating the time of dreams
we fear the oblique bodies of the departed men
but our feet devour the streets and shoot life
against the silence:

captured in an immense tower of 180 floods
a woman hopes with all her might
for the long march of departed men
to pass.