Facing the River

   I've been told it's not a dream, but I see a bridge and below it blue and limpid river, also a shadow that is not a shadow, but a different light. I see a woman who passes smiling and then a man who is also smiling. Both look at me and stretch their hands out to me.

   I've been told it's not a dream, but I see thousands of men and women on the bridge that suddenly becomes a magnificent crystal arch. And I look at the river and see stones on the bottom, fish the color of fire, and I understand that I must keep looking at it because it is blue and limpid river that at each instant ceases to be itself.

   I've been told it's not a dream.

--Abilio Estevez
translated by Cola Franzen