You're telling me the rats have nibbled the church down to its roots,
oh my sad mother,
but even so our faith is more a matter
of bread and wine.
If only the oat plants wouldn't get
into the bed of my sister who's run to the fields,
if only the singer banished among bulrushes wouldn't run wild . . .
over the death combing your hair,
over the entrails of fire
storks are passing like a leukaemia of stars.