no me aprovecha verme cual me veo,
o muy aventurado o muy medroso,
en tanta confusión que nunca oso
fiar el mal de mí que lo poseo,

¿qué me ha de aprovechar ver la pintura
de aquel que con las alas derretidas
cayendo, fama y nombre al mar ha dado,

y la del que su fuego y su locura
llora entre aquellas plantas conocidas,
apenas en el agua resfriado?

it does not help to see me as I am,
sometimes courageous, sometimes racked with fear,
in such confusion that I never dare
to guard against the evil deep in me,

how could it help to see the painting of
the famous youth who with his melted wings
in falling, to a sea his name bestowed,

and one of him, whose own madness and fire
he must lament beneath those fabled trees,
and even in the water won't grow cold.

                     (©Alix Ingber, 1995)