measure the worth of her effort (1) 

and affirmations by having

as measure the weight she carries

like a good mule she has no idea

who is riding her but

she is at their service

 

like every good mule

she packs by the edge of

the cliff not dying

is her vengeance

tongueless philomela (2)

and mule

does not jump for hatred

nor for hope

(and in it there is a fundamental

difference).

 

mule-lavínia

also had her tongue

pulled out from lucrécia

mule and sleeping

they didn’t pull anything

out but blackmail

is also a gag

mule-talia also

slept when she was

raped

 

it was maury and mule

who managed to

open their mouth

and by turning into an ass

changed his own

name and of things

the new mule learned

german and vergewaltigung

ceases to be what it is

becomes some sound

said with the same

intonation that comet

fury alligator bird

match procession stone

cactus

 

the packed mule

almost mute at least

never has been deaf

‘i can even hear the stones and their misfortune.’ (3)     

each one has what says

the mule in zarathustra

hilst’s mule

but the nightingale who sings

is the male nightingale.

 

(1) Nouns are gendered in Portuguese and mule is a feminine noun. I think we should keep it that way.

 

(2) ‘Filomela’ is one meaning for ‘rouxinol’(‘nighthingale’), but it also implies a reference to the rape of Philomela. Philomela was an Athenian princess, sister to Procne who was married to Tereus, king of Thrace. Tereus cut off Philomela’s tongue and raped her. Afterwards, Philomela transformed into a nightingale and sang. Also, female nightingales are mute.

 

(3) This is a line from a poem by Hilda Hilst, ‘Mula de Deus’/’God’s Mule’