Rhetoric and the Shadow of Snowfall

Rhetoric is the science of counting

the iguanas in the field of the snow

when there comes a maiden

who has not learned the genuine difference

between the bite of a butterfly

fresh after the famous summer courses

and the light she willingly bites from

while sweetly fainting

when she denies release

Who can keep on studying the obsolete rhetoric

at five o’clock in the morning

when I myself can hardly wake up

far too much rhetoric I have been injected with

in all circumstances

During the modern rhetoric classes

I shall suffer among listeners and disciples

but the maidens who cannot tell the difference

between the sentence expressed in butterflies

and the sentence worded with other means

such as the kiss

or the shadow of snowfall.

English version by Gabriela PACHIA