You want me White

by Alfonsina Storni


You want me white
You want me made of foam
You want me like Mother-of-Pearl
You want me to be Lily
Above all others, chaste
Of tenous fragrance;
Closed corolla.
Untouched even by a Moonbeam,
Unrivaled by a daisy;
You expect me to be niveous
You expect me to be white
You expect me to be dawnYou, who has had all
The cups at your reach;
Whose lips were stained red
with sweet fruit and libations
You, who at the banquets,
draped in vine shoots,
abandoned his flesh
celebrating Baccus
You, who
dressed in red,
ran to your ruin
in the black gardens of Deceit,
You, who still managed to keep
by some unfathomable miracle
an untouched skeleton ---
You want me white?
(Good Lord!)
You expect me to be Chaste?
(God forgive you!)
You expect me to be dawn!
Flee into the woods,
Find refuge in the mountains,
Purify your mouth;
Go live in reclusion,
feel the moist earth with your hands,
nourish your body with bitter roots;
Drink of the stones,
sleep on the frost;
Renew your flesh
With saltpeter and water;
Speak with the birds
and rise at dawn.
And when your tissues
Have been transformed
And when you have put back into them
the soul you left behind in the bedrooms
Only then,
good man,
Expect me to be white
Expect me to be niveous
Expect me to be chaste.