One: A Translation from Spanish without Knowing Spanish

One sees itself with One
walking side by side down the sidewalk.
This is certainly the best I can do,
the first foot tells the second.

So the feet walk on, if with a slight
stumble as one holds its petty grudge against the other.

No smooches for you,
This foot has had enough.
No smooches for the heck of it either.

And thus the end of thinking.
The end of truth. The end of smooches.

There is nothing left to laugh about
and still we contrive to find
in the arms of the sun
something so unlikely as the moon.

No smooches, you little jerk.
Just remember that when you’re sleeping.

Mary Crockett Hill
“One: A Translation from Spanish without Knowing Spanish” first appeared in Pank, 2008.