Skip to main content
Outdated Browser

For the best experience using our website, we recommend upgrading your browser to a newer version or switching to a supported browser.

More Information

Poetry

The Owl

By Briceida Cuevas Cob
Translated from Spanish by Earl Shorris & Sylvia Sasson Shorris

Note: This poem was originally written in Yucatecan Maya.

The owl is here.
He perches on the wall. And meditates.
Whose death does he announce
if no one lives in this village?
The fossils of the people
do not cross to either side.

The tombs in the cemetery paint the moon
that has begun to chew the underbrush.
The owl
rehearses a song to life.
It refuses to presage its own death.

Originally published in Nuni, año IV, número 9 p. 20.

English

Note: This poem was originally written in Yucatecan Maya.

The owl is here.
He perches on the wall. And meditates.
Whose death does he announce
if no one lives in this village?
The fossils of the people
do not cross to either side.

The tombs in the cemetery paint the moon
that has begun to chew the underbrush.
The owl
rehearses a song to life.
It refuses to presage its own death.

Originally published in Nuni, año IV, número 9 p. 20.

Read Next