Algunas Bestias [English translation]

It was the twilight of the iguana.

From the rainbow colored cresting

its tongue like a dart

it sank down into the greenery;

the monastic ants tread on

the jungle with melodious feet,

the guanaco as thin as the oxygen

in the wide brown heights,

was wearing boots of gold,

while the llama opened its innocent

eyes in the fragility

of the world full of dew.

The monkeys braided an

interminably erotic thread

on the shores of the dawn,

knocking down walls of pollen

and frightening the purple flight

of the Muzo1 butterflies.

It was the night of the caymans,

a pure night and swarming

snouts were emerging from the slime,

and from the sleepy swamps

a dull sound of armor

returned to its earthly origin.

The jaguar touched the leaves

with its phosphorescent absence,

the puma runs on the branch

like a devouring fire

while the intoxicants of

the jungle burn in his eyes.

The badgers' feet scratch

the river, they sniff the nest

whose palpitating delicacy

they will attack with red teeth.

And at the bottom of the great waters

like the circle of the earth,

is the giant anaconda

covered with ritual muds,

devouring and religious.

1. Muzo is a town and municipality in the Western Boyacá Province, part of the department of Boyacá, Colombia. Because of their beauty and size, the butterflies of Muzo are considered a trophy for collectors from all around the world.

• Artist:Pablo Neruda