TORIBIO

Some things can barely

    be imagined.

At least he has the trade I taught him.

They say his job,

    when he’s not being punished,

    is sewing clothes

    of fine linen

    with trimmings.

How is it possible

    that he is no longer a child

    but a man, young and old

    at the same time?

Fifteen or sixteen, more or less

    his verses wasted

    his mind just a feather

    stitched onto someone else’s

    fancy hat.