(Maybe it was because you hadn’t mastered your Geometry)
El jovencito se olvidaba.
[The lad was going blank.]
Eran las diez de la mañana.
[It was ten in the morning.]
Su corazón se iba llenando
[His heart was growing full]
de alas rotas y flores de trapo.
[of broken wings and rag flowers.]
Notó que ya no le quedaba
[He noticed there remained]
en la boca más que una palabra.
[just one word on his lips.]
Y al quitarse los guantes, caía,
[And when he took off his gloves]
de sus manos, suave ceniza.
[a soft ash fell from his hands.]
Por el balcón se veía una torre.
[A tower showed through the balcony door.]
El se sintió balcón y torre.
[He felt he was both balcony and tower.]
Vio, sin duda, cómo le miraba
[No doubt he saw how the clock,]
el reloj detenido en su caja.
[stopped in its case, surveyed him.]
Vio su sombra tendida y quieta
[He saw his shadow quiet and prone]
en el blanco diván de seda.
[on the white silk divan.]
Y el joven rígido, geométrico,
[And the stiff, geometrical youth]
con un hacha rompió el espejo.
[smashed the mirror with a hatchet.]
Al romperlo, un gran chorro de sombra
[When it broke, a great burst of shadow]
inundó la quimérica alcoba.
[flooded the illusory room.]