for Zorro (Gerardo Beltrán)

let everything return - fruits shrink back to blossoms
grass back to seeds
murdered sugarcane stands back up
on its stalks
let everything return - words turn into wind
and wind into silence
let everything return - tequila into blue agaves
names into lips, and lakes once again
to clouds

griffons need meat and the snake milk
hands need stones, blades - blades
the spider needs fall, and the fall - fruits
everything returns from where it came and is
where it was, fall needs water, water - water lilies

let everything return - stands back up and rests

strike my shoulder snake - I give you my shoulder
strike my hand snake - I give you my hand
strike my liver sister snake -
carry off my lungs and esophagus
my feet and my tongue
jump over my shoulder wild cat
jump over my mouth wild cat
jump over my hands wild cat -
let everything return - let Zorro return
let everything return - let him sit behind the table
let everything return - lick salt from his hand
let everything return - take illnesses away snake
let everything return - heal exhaustion spider
let everything return - cat take away weakness
let everything return - griffon throw up good health

© Alvydas Šlepikas
Translated by Jonas Zdanys