Do I Know You From Somewhere by Vicente Reyes

Do I Know You From Somewhere?

We met before, do you recall?

Yes I remember.

I got splinters into my calloused fingers that day.

We were working with used pieces that were unusually knotty.

(They always gave us the worst stock for the posts).

And you know how it is when a crowd stares at you.

It takes all a man’s concentration to work in peace.

Some hands are tougher and you want to be neat.

The nails were from a bad pot and kept breaking.

Fortunately I was able to remove the leather thongs

And wedge my mallet head with a shiny nail point.

It didn’t fall off after that.

I didn’t want to take any chances

Because young ones came running up to us from the crowd.

A flicker in one pair of eyes disturbed me, why?

The stench of his blood was like that of anybody’s.

My mind was blank but for the splinters on the ground.

We had others that day, like we did every day.

Nobody shunned me in the marketplace anymore.

We all have to eat, it is true, but a good craftsman

Does not let an apprentice take his part if he can be there.

I was swinging with my right arm that week.

As you know, my left is naturally devoted to a steady balance.

They would fight like madmen and pierce the Jerusalem sky

With wild curses and exclamations of love or hatred for Rome.

We used to get good hardware from Rome.

Their nails were cheaper and not as rough and much more durable.

But the economy was down and there was much rabble-rousing.

Anyway, somebody though of placing the worksite

On the hill shaped like a skull and having the condemned

Carry their own crosses to the top.

They didn’t give us much trouble after that.

I was grateful for the distance that the rising gave us.

All the gabbers that "know" how you should do the job

Were trapped with the spectators around the base that day.

Yes, I remember, a sudden storm refreshed us afterwards.

Vicente Reyes

April 1988

Internet source: http://www.thepoetsdiary.com/

First North American Serial Rights Available

May be reprinted freely for personal review or academic discussion

Original English & Spanish translation by Vicente Reyes, all others by SYSTRAN

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