Botanic Avenue - (Translation)

From Cuaderno de Belfast - Dublín

We walk
leaving steps we do not take behind
(but they do write us)
and we inhabit a silence
walking hand in hand
and fingers knotted together

The dog crosses the street
unaware of the traffic lights
from the corner the drunkard
shouts at that man
who is not walking on pavement opposite

We walk
at the end of the avenues we wait
for the daybreak bus to pass by
and I drag you by the hand
where rain starts to fall

Crows are perched
finding a balance on the curbs
although there is no childhood in the pavement
... and the grandpa with his walking stick
shows us the way to the water and the river