Flores Nocturnas [English translation]

The nocturnal flowers of Fifth Avenue open

For those poor gentlemen that go to the hotel.

Flowers that break in darkness;

Flowers of winks of complicity;

Flowers, whistling suicides;

Flowers of deadly scent.

What gardener sowed Fifth Avenue

With such precise nocturnal variety?

What are their species and which their country?

What fine fertiliser nourished their root?

Giving them a rustic tone,

Where will their matrix be?

Flowers that cross forbidden doors;

Flowers that know what I never will.

Flowers that string their life dream

In faithless wreaths.

Flowers of sheets with eyes.

Disposable flowers;

Ivy of fancy.

Flowers, eating leftovers of love.

They sprout, they bounce, explode around Fifth Avenue.

They’re pulled up and leave with a quick air.

They say the flower trade is hard

When their petals wilt in the sun.

Pale nocturnal flowers;

Flowers of disappointment.

Flowers that cross forbidden doors;

Flowers that know what I never will.

Flowers that string their life dream

In faithless wreaths.

Flowers of sheets with eyes.

Disposable flowers;

Ivy of fancy.

Flowers with no spring nor season;

Flowers, eating leftovers of love.

• Artist:Silvio Rodríguez