Stumbles, Pitfalls, and Spells

‘Yo no creo en brujas, pero que las hay, las hay’

(Galicia’s cruel saying)

There was a thief whose a bad luck set him

on the way to your house;

a rapist that something drove his mad eyes

and his insane desire for that dear friend of yours,

or, who knows, the weight of evil,

even to your beloved daughter.

A runaway truck that went around, missed you,

but wrecked a car with your friend’s sister,

also destroying her life and her family’s.

An irate driver who picked you up in traffic,

for, without any reason, overflow onto you,

all his hatred towards this world we live in.

That drug dealer who once saw at your son

a certain hopelessness of youth and guided him,

without pity or hesitation and with all wickedness,

on the sordid path of addiction.

That one you thought your friend but directed you,

with false truths and promises of great gains,  

for a business he never had money or courage to.

That stranger (maybe even a friend),

who, hidden from you and from due respect,

set eyes of malice and sin in your wife.

That sullen and unpredictable man, let loose on the streets,

instead of locked up in a bughouse, who can, on the outbreak

of the moment, just take your life. 

So are some ways generated by witches you never knew, 

nor had ever wished to know,

who, for free and pleasure of wrongdoing, also for envy,

collide daily with your dear fellow ones,

and are always looking for you too.

(Written on November 19, 2016)