There began the story that you, the shadow conjurer
Will weave to open in me the eyes that the years have closed.
In a slaty and gloaming sky, tattooed with musical notes
Appears faraway like a ship
On a sea of roofs: tortoise scales
Or funeral stones
The red city of the Forbidden.
The painted border encloses this magical space
Where fate will speed destiny's arrow.
Red suddenly recalls blood, murder
Sound and fury, hatred with its hyena's eyes
A Rubicon we must not cross.
Like you I have known Picasso's devilish cities Goya's nighttime vigils, heavy with hurricanes
Carriers of Buñuel's dark sparks.