Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market

This is a humble attempt to translate Neruda's masterpiece. The refrigerator magnet is handmade.

Only if my words

Only if my words
would flow swiftly
like a spring stream
and whisper softly

along a summer breeze,

if fall they would freely

as the autumn leaves

or the morning dew,

I could tell the story

of a firefly
on a mid-summer night
braving the galaxy
to meet a golden drop

on morning grass.

Only if my words

would bloom effortlessly

as in a spring meadow

or the valley of flowers

and then 

weave I could

like a damsel -

flower after flower

plucked one at a time

lovingly from eden -

into a tapestry,

I could tell the story

of a butterfly 

in your garden-

speed-dating flowers

satiating unquenched love.

Only if my words. . .

Experimentation with canvas shoe painting