‘Yo no creo en brujas, pero que las hay, las hay’
(Galicia’s cruel saying)
There was a thief that a bad luck set him
on the way to your house;
a rapist that someone drove his madness’ eyes
and his insane desire to that dear friend of yours,
or, who knows, the weight of evil,
even to your beloved daughter.
A runaway truck that went around, didn’t catch you,
but wrecked a car with your friend’s sister,
also destroying her life and her family’s.
An irate driver who picked you up in traffic,
for, without any motive or reason, to overflow
all his hatred towards this world we live in.
That drug dealer who once saw at your son
a certain hopelessness of youth and guided him,
without pity or hesitation and with all wickedness,
on the sordid path of addiction.
That one you thought your friend but directed you,
with false truths and promise of great gains,
for a business he never had money or courage to.
That stranger (maybe even a friend),
who, hidden from you and from due respect,
set eyes of malice and sin in your wife.
That sullen and unpredictable man, let loose on the streets,
instead of locked up in a bughouse, who can, on the outbreak
of the moment, just take your life.
So are some ways generated by witches you never knew,
nor had never wished to know,
who, for free and pleasure of wrongdoing, also for envy,
collide daily with your brothers and sisters,
and are always looking for you too.
Edilson Afonso Ferreira, 80 years, is a Brazilian poet who writes in English rather than in Portuguese. Widely published in international literary journals, he began writing at age 67, after his retirement from a bank. Since then, he counts 190 poems published, in 300 different publications. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and his first Poetry Collection – Lonely Sailor – was launched in London in 2018. His second, Joie de Vivre, has been launched in April 2022. He is always updating his works at www.edilsonmeloferreira.com.