The Red Shoes

by Richard Wellx

translated by Richard Wellx

The Women

Las Perdidas

Las Olvidadas

Las Desaparecidas

No one is invisible

unless we make them so

The shoes have been left

for the women

But the night has passed

and no one has returned

There is only dust

In the city of Guanajuato

a man knows

where a body lies

and in the countryside

another man knows

where a body lies

and in this country

men know

where bodies lie

Thousands

are counted

in the minds of men

         who will not speak

         and who will die in fear

Do not pray for them.