The Washerwomen

Translated from the Spanish by Alan Britt_
_

The river’s washerwomen
hold their breasts of water
like babies enclosed
in round water jugs

and the water’s echoes
bear the curves
of their waists

it carries a moon’s jasmines
and spring’s threads

sitting
on the canoes
they was day after day
two withered leaves
on their vacant faces
undermine the horizon

and the water’s reflections
paint their naked bodies
with dark leaves and the sun’s silk

and in their hands
they hold roads
of water scales
surrounded by foam.