THE POWERS OF PEREZ

                  I

There are now so many cadavers
buried or unburied,
barely alive in moribund
concentrations,
so many imprisoned and humiliated,
beneath mountains of injustice,
so much transformed country entombed
that they can  proclaim
peace.
Culmination of the Crusade. Long live the Leader!

The Leader, alone at last,
closes the door, feels relieved.
                                                      Alone,
without the weight of a hateful world,
without the rabble that adores and fears him,
adores and detests him.
Elevated by all for  all,
leaning on them
he whoops himself up,
Champion of his God.
The victory is most holy.

Yes! By the Leader's side is God,
so auspicious to the cause.
A common undertaking joins them.

How to comprehend that a man, only a man,
could force so many barbarians together
into the gales
of homicidal pursuits,
or compel sharper minds
than his to agree on that General's sash?

Sash of the resplendent Crusader,
anointed by the Grace
of the Lord, who is the guide.

Guide by means of war
so cruelly just
as to plunge a people to its destiny.

Destiny so illustrious
that it eliminates hosts of adversaries
imprisoned or beneath the earth:
they don't vote, they don't disturb. Unanimous country!

The pure survive,
so very pure as to be covered
by wicked blood
in the  great sacrifice.

O Leader, never alone: God harbors you.