Now I speak again, like a person who has escaped from a plague
I visit my friends; I know many who have been saved
("There is always some departure"), that's what I had said once
At another time again I spoke about an unknown illness- who remembers that?)
They have passed, by now, the condemned days, the windows opened
Cheerfully the street cleaners sweep up the garbage on the roads
Life has begun again, the registrations in clubs and institutes
The teenagers embracing in the parks, the random films at the movie theaters
The ads in the newspapers; the evil carnival has now passed
The masks burned, the old names were forgotten
And the public council is having a hearing about the renaming of the streets.
Raul, I think of you again, how you didn't have time to become wise, to have discussions,
To see the other side of things, to learn to be silent;
It was not in your future to speak of possibilities, to draw conclusions,
It was not in your future for you, too, to be taught the arithmetic of ideas.

Translated by: Eva Johanos