The Infant's dissolution

You do not know how an infant dissolves,
And his hair remains on the grass like dry shavings,
And he vanishes like white foam in the last down,
And his soft bones jump when the great feet
Go drunkenly walking and laughing loud
As soled shoes laugh.

A little ear like a droplet runs
At a child’s pace, clutching a blade of grass
And he remains, headless, in the middle of the meadow.

This infant dissolved without ever crying
And little children are not born like drops of water.
The grass-filled meadow remains without child.

1992

Translated: John hodgson