Portrait of the Man

Pablo Neruda

          It is necessary to judge those hands stained

          by the dead he killed with his terror;

          the dead from under the earth

          are rising up like seeds of sorrow.

          Because this is a time never before dreamed of.

          And Nixon, the trapped rat,

          his eyes wide with fear,

          is watching the rebirth of flags shot down.

          He was defeated every day in Vietnam.

          In Cuba his rage was driven away

          and now in the buried twilight

          this rodent is gnawing at Chile

          not knowing that Chileans of little importance

          are going to give him a lesson in honor.