no smiles tonight

“…
treacherous
generals:
see my dead house,
look at broken spain :
from every house burning metal flows
instead of flowers,
from every socket of spain
spain emerges
and from every dead child a rifle with eyes,
and from every crime bullets are born
which will one day find
the bull's eye of your hearts.
 
and you'll ask: why doesn't his poetry
speak of dreams and leaves
and the great volcanoes of his native land?
 
come and see the blood in the streets.
come and see
the blood in the streets.
come and see the blood
in the streets!”
 
-- ‘i'm explaining a few things’,
neftalí ricardo reyes basoalto
(pablo neruda), 1904-1973.