There are birds who bear on their wings
the green of the leaf and the stone’s ochre
there are blue beasts flaunting in their stripes
shreds of halo or cloud where day still reigns
there are lions who scatter in their wake
claw-tracks like yellow ears of wheat
horses trembling in immobility
in a silence that seems to leap
fauna pricked to madness that has sprung
from the wheatfield the sun and autumn
a joy of shapes sounds and colours
swaying and clamouring in patches of light
a whole creation moving
playing in the splendor of animal purity
sailing harmoniously through the soul
of this ark of the living
Aridjis, Homero. “The Ark.” Trans. Betty Ferber. Eyes to See Otherwise: Selected Poems = Ojos, de otro mirar. Eds. Betty Ferber and George McWhirter. New York: New Directions Book, 2002. p. 224.