Ode to Sadness

Ode to Sadness

Sadness, scarab

with seven crippled feet,

spiderweb egg,

scramble-brained rat,

bitchs skeleton:

No entry here.

Dont come in.

Go away.

Go back

south with your umbrella,

go back

north with your serpents teeth.

A poet lives here.

No sadness may

cross this threshold.

Through these windows

comes the breath of the world,

fresh red roses,

flags embroidered with

the victories of the people.

No.

No entry.

Flap

your bats wings,

I will trample the feathers

that fall from your mantle,

I will sweep the bits and pieces

of your carcass to

the four corners of the wind,

I will wring your neck,

I will stitch your eyelids shut,

I will sew your shroud,

sadness, and bury your rodent bones

beneath the springtime of an apple tree.

Pablo Neruda