I
The city came to perch on my shoulder.
I was seeing her on the horizon, nocturnal, opened by lights and wings,
quiet, as if she were seeking the heat of the moon or the message of
the headlights. Slowly I drew near to her, I finished returning.
Granada in the shadows looked like a sleeping bird.
But there was a moment in which I sensed the tremble of her nerves, the
abrupt agitation of dreaming, the call of a powerful instinct, a
schedule's discipline. And all so suddenly. And she rose to fly,
crossed the air like an arrow in flames, like a predestination ignited.
And she came to rest on my shoulder, and she left her bloody kiss on my
neck.
Since then I fear her with absolute surrender, as the victim needs its
vampire. Pale, with circles under my eyes, almost bloodless, to the
city I return still. I am he who appears from the shadows, who crosses
the street, who loses himself toward a secret destiny. And I look at
you for a moment, and I perch on your shoulder, and I bring my lips to
your neck.
Luis García Montero
Translation by Alice McAdams