Monarchs

Maria Vazquez Valdez (Mexico)
translated by Margaret Randall

Glints of orange
flutter in the sky,
vigorous drizzle of wings
in a vortex:
they understand the radiance
incrusted in the earth.

Majestic flight
gathering all energy,
singing in a bonfire of wings
among the sacred pines.

They convene in ecstasy
turn mid–flight,
melt into each other,
drink on branches over the water,
a convulsive rain
of animated petals.

Their murmur falls
and rises:
flowers that mate
in velvet silence.

from Geómetra, 2020