CONFIDENCES

He sits down at the table and writes
“with this poem you won’t take power” he says
“with these verses you won’t make the Revolution” he says
“nor with thousands of verses will you make the Revolution” he says

What’s more: those verses won’t make
peons teachers woodcutters live better
eat better or him himself eat live better
nor will they make a girl fall in love with him

they won’t earn him money
they won’t get him into movies free
he can’t buy clothes with them
or trade them for wine or tobacco

no scarves no parrots no boats
no bulls no umbrellas can he get for them
they will not keep him dry in the rain
nor get him grace or forgiveness

“with this poem you won’t take power” he says
“with these verses you won’t make the Revolution” he says
“nor with thousands of verses will you make the Revolution” he says
He sits down at the table and writes

Juan Gelman,
Unthinkable Tenderness, Selected Poems.