Funerals Poem by Pedro Mexia

We meet the family at funerals.
We're never as transparent
as when we mourn
and tell measured anecdotes
recalling the deceased.
What blood runs here
that mine may resemble?
Some of the old people bring the flowers
they already gave at weddings
and among them they decide
we are a family,
they know the cousins I don't
know, regret the fate
of those whose story is known,
they are even graver
than us, and use
endearing terms.
My name will turn to dust
with my body, a widowed
woman is thinking,
there are siblings who are completely silent
and children who play blindman's buff.
We follow the cortege
straightening our ties,
the wind can't tell that someone has died.
Ten people keep up with the priest,
the others can no longer remember
the prayers,
ten people think about
what they are facing,
the others follow the coffin.
Soon enough
the younger will bury
the older digger.

Translation by Ana Hudson,