Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Fernando Denis

A Pre-Raphaelite Ornithologist

I think about my golden nineteenth century.
Here each verse clamors among luxurious woods
And delicate summits of silk.
The imperious colors worn by Queen Victoria.
Under the dream of maiden faces
The thunderbolt illumines marbles and mirrors.

I think about the sea of the nineteenth century,
About that enormous canvas resembling the sea
Making language tremble.
Everything happens infinitely in the splendorous
Plumage of a bird:
I’m thinking about the bird on the tip of the brush.

And I write this because writing is no more
Than a reflection on death.
Before this light reinvented by my psyche
I must immediately create my own myth
Or else I will be lost in the myth of someone I do not know.

If the sky died with me in my open eyes
I would erase the sunset.
I could offer to the queen this bloodied dagger
After my suicide. 

I think about the death of the nineteenth century.
I die, I want to go into the metamorphosis.
Up there birds trace death on the pupil of my eye.

Un ornitólogo prerrafaelista

Un ornitólogo prerrafaelista

Pienso en mi dorado siglo diecinueve.
Aquí cada verso reclama entre bosques lujosos
Y delicadas cumbres de seda
Los imperiosos colores que visten a la reina Victoria.
Bajo el sueño de rostros de doncella
El relámpago enciende mármoles y espejos.

Pienso en el mar del siglo diecinueve.
En ese enorme lienzo semejante al mar
Que estremece el lenguaje.
Todo sucede infinitamente en el esplendoroso
Plumaje de un pájaro.
Pienso en el pájaro que está en la punta del pincel.

Y escribo esto porque escribir no es más
Que una reflexión sobre la muerte.
Ante esta luz que reinventa mi psicología
Debo en seguida crear mi propio mito
O me veré perdido en el mito de alguien
Que no conozco.

Si el cielo muriera conmigo en mis ojos abiertos
Borraría el crepúsculo.
Podría ofrecerla a la reina este puñal ensangrentado
Después de mi suicidio.

Pienso en la muerte del siglo diecinueve.
Muero, quiero entrar en la metamorfosis.
Arriba los pájaros trazan la muerte de mi pupila.
Close

A Pre-Raphaelite Ornithologist

I think about my golden nineteenth century.
Here each verse clamors among luxurious woods
And delicate summits of silk.
The imperious colors worn by Queen Victoria.
Under the dream of maiden faces
The thunderbolt illumines marbles and mirrors.

I think about the sea of the nineteenth century,
About that enormous canvas resembling the sea
Making language tremble.
Everything happens infinitely in the splendorous
Plumage of a bird:
I’m thinking about the bird on the tip of the brush.

And I write this because writing is no more
Than a reflection on death.
Before this light reinvented by my psyche
I must immediately create my own myth
Or else I will be lost in the myth of someone I do not know.

If the sky died with me in my open eyes
I would erase the sunset.
I could offer to the queen this bloodied dagger
After my suicide. 

I think about the death of the nineteenth century.
I die, I want to go into the metamorphosis.
Up there birds trace death on the pupil of my eye.

A Pre-Raphaelite Ornithologist

I think about my golden nineteenth century.
Here each verse clamors among luxurious woods
And delicate summits of silk.
The imperious colors worn by Queen Victoria.
Under the dream of maiden faces
The thunderbolt illumines marbles and mirrors.

I think about the sea of the nineteenth century,
About that enormous canvas resembling the sea
Making language tremble.
Everything happens infinitely in the splendorous
Plumage of a bird:
I’m thinking about the bird on the tip of the brush.

And I write this because writing is no more
Than a reflection on death.
Before this light reinvented by my psyche
I must immediately create my own myth
Or else I will be lost in the myth of someone I do not know.

If the sky died with me in my open eyes
I would erase the sunset.
I could offer to the queen this bloodied dagger
After my suicide. 

I think about the death of the nineteenth century.
I die, I want to go into the metamorphosis.
Up there birds trace death on the pupil of my eye.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
Lira fonds
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère