El hombre de los ojos bonitos. BUKOWSKI

POEMA ORIGINAL


The Man With The Beautiful Eyes

When we were kids there was a strange house
all the shades were always drawn
and we never heard voices in there
and the yard was full of bamboo
and we liked to play in the bamboo
pretend we were Tarzan
(although there was no Jane)
and there was a fish pond a large one
full of the fattest goldfish
you ever saw and they were tame.
They came to the surface of the water
and took pieces of bread from our hands.
Our parents had told us:
"never go near that house"
so, of course, we went.
We wondered if anybody lived there.
Weeks went by and we never saw anybody.
Then one day we heard a voice from the house
"YOU GOD DAMNED WHORE!"
It was a mans voice.
Then the screen door of the house
was flung open
and the man walked out.
He was holding a fifth of whiskey in his right hand.
He was about 30.
He had a cigar in his mouth, needed a shave.
His hair was wild and uncombed
and he was barefoot.
In undershirt and pants
but his eyes were bright
they BLAZED with brightness
and he said,
"hey, little gentleman,
having a good time, I
hope?"
Then he gave a little laugh
and walked back into the house.
We left, went back to my parents yard
and thought about it.
Our parents, we decided
had wanted us to stay away
from there because they
never wanted us to see a man
like that,
a strong natural man with beautiful eyes.
Our parents were ashamed that they were not like that man,
thats why they wanted us to stay away.
But we went back to that house
and the bamboo and the tame goldfish.
We went back many times
for many weeks but we never saw or heard
the man again.
The shades were down as always
and it was quiet.
Then one day as we came back from school
we saw the house.
It had burned down,
there was nothing left,
just a smoldering twisted black foundation
and we went to the fish pond
and there was no water in it
and the fat orange goldfish were dead
there, drying out.
We went back to my parents yard
and talked about it and decided that
our parents had burned their house down,
had killed them had killed the goldfish
because it was all too beautiful,
even the bamboo forest had burned.
They had been afraid of the man with the beautiful eyes.
And we were afraid than that all throughout our lives
things like that would happen,
that nobody wanted anybody
to be strong and beautiful like that,
that others would never allow it,
and that many people would have to die.