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Poem-a-day

Somber Bull

translated from the Spanish by Craig Epplin

I come from fear 
I feed you dread,

I break the bread of shivers 
among your poor.

I hear boards creaking 
scratched by some perverse animal.

I step into the dark 
I sit in the midst of its dense back.

Sitting there I ask to hear 
your cruelest of stories.

I welcome terror, that somber bull, 
I fight for your name held in his jaws.

I taste the fruit whose coarse skin 
is eaten by beasts who’ve never tasted honey

There’s no more bitter food
than the fruit of love traversed by doubt.

 


 

Ese Toro Sombrío

 

Vengo del miedo. 
con el pavor te alimento,

el pan de su escalofrío lo corto 
entre tus pobres.

Oigo maderas crujir 
por un rasguño de animal perverso.

Entró en la oscuridad. 
me siento al centro de su pastoso fondo.

Desde allí te pido que me cuentes 
tu historia más cruel.

Saludo al terror, ese toro sombrío, 
me disputó tu nombre entre sus fauces.

Pruebo la fruta cuya corteza rugosa 
comen bestias que no conocen el sabor de lamiel.

No hay alimento más amargo 
que un fruto del amor atravesado por la duda.

Copyright © 2025 by Andrea Cote. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 5, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.

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Andrea Cote

Andrea Cote
Photo credit: Lina Castaño
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About Poem-a-Day

Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Randall Mann is the Guest Editor of August. Read or listen to a Q&A with Mann about his curatorial process, and learn more about the 2025 Guest Editors. Support Poem-a-Day.  

If you have any questions about Poem-a-Day, visit our Poem-a-Day FAQ.

Previous Poems

Title Author Date
Deserving Terisa Siagatonu 01/30/2020
Predictions of the Material Jessica Guzman 01/29/2020
Violin Nikki Wallschlaeger 01/28/2020
With a Petroleum Coating Trace Peterson 01/27/2020
I Cannot Sing Edward Nathaniel Harleston 01/26/2020
Souvenir Edna St. Vincent Millay 01/25/2020
I do not remember my own name Valerie Wetlaufer 01/24/2020
Remember the Boys Rachel McKibbens 01/23/2020
Winter Constance Merritt 01/22/2020
When We’re in Bed and You Take Out Your Mouth Guard, I Know It’s On Melissa Crowe 01/21/2020

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