Stranded in this hectic city,
I have to find a job, so I decide to apply
to the National Library, and even though
I’m so young, librarians accept me into their treasury
of ancient thoughts and modern ones.
Verses from so many nations!
Fables, myths, fantasies, translations!
Greeks and Romans
along with Aztecs and Mayas.
The wisdom of so many civilizations
swirls and blends, entering my imagination
through tangled gateways.
Why shouldn’t my poetry feature Pegasus
alongside Quetzalcoatl?
My ancestry is both Spanish
and indio,
so my mestizo mind embraces
the mixture.