I weep without sobbing, keeping my self in check,
Because his skies broke, and it poured in the night
A black downpour like the night that gave it birth.

I weep without sobbing, because the wolf loves mist
And hot tears, getting drunk on our tears,
Drinking this crystal water, as red as blood.

And the wall is thick and mindless,
Ashen concrete, thick and foolish,
Oppressing the lovely rivers of crystal.

I weep without sobbing, because the enemy hears.
The mad say that tears are weakness,
But the mad are mad, and have no eyes.

In spring, when everything revives under a law
As ancient as the stuff of this earth itself,
Thousands of us will be reborn, like Phoenix.

O Red River of blood and flesh!

1992

Translated: John Hodgson