II
The neglected one opens the window
she opens her eyes
down there, trucks pass loaded with black-dressed women
who expose their naked gender
with blind drivers who curse
the Christa and Virgin Mary of the neglected
the black-attired women hate her
even as they throw their bloody carnations at her
and in the heat of their garden of lust
and from the evaporation of fuel in the cloud of smoke
the drivers
rip the cloud apart and call her whore
yet she’s a saddened Virgin Mary
with her loved one in the icons
as time has preserved him
with the candles of the betrayed
who walked to their death among the daisies
and chamomiles
with palm leaves and stars of the mountain
with swords that severed heads and palm trees.
