De estangurria murió. No hay castellana
lavandera que no llore de pena,
y fulano sotillo se condena
de olmos negros a loba luterana.

Bien es verdad que dicen los doctores
que no es muerto, sino que del estío
le causan parasismo los calores;

que a los primeros del diciembre frío,
de sus mulas harán estos señores
que los orines den salud al río.

It died of bladder blockage. In Castille
no washerwoman will not cry in grief;
your busy pleasure island's now condemned
to black elms cloaked within a mourning sheath.

It's very true that all the doctors say
that it's not dead, that in the summertime
the heat can make you faint, or sweat, or shiver;

and that when cold December comes again,
these learnèd men will make sure that their mules'
life-giving drops give health back to the river.

                     (©Alix Ingber, 1995)