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.

Credit

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

About this Poem

“The original title of Andrea Cote’s poem alludes to the shadows, as sombrío is related to sombra. And the shadowy being is a bull, an animal that might evoke fear and lonesomeness. The poem’s speaker embraces this condition, coming from fear and inhabiting the dark, where they eat the bitter fruit that is born of ‘love traversed by doubt.’ These are themes that run through the book Querida Beth (Visor, 2025), where the original, Spanish-language version of this poem was published: the pain of exile and injustice, desire for connection, and uncertainty about how to find it.”
Craig Epplin

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