Ernesto Cardenal's
The Price of Bras
 Translated from the Spanish 
by Jonathan Cohen

I have a niece who complains about the Revolution
because bras are so very expensive.
I don't know what it's like to have breasts
but I think I could go around without a bra.
My friend Rafael Cordova lives close to the village of Esquipulas
and he told me how many funerals used to pass on the road
                        with tiny little coffins,
four, five, six, eight funerals
        every afternoon,
there were children's funerals
                                  each afternoon.
The old people didn't die as often.
And a short while ago the gravedigger of Esquipulas visited him:
"Doctor, I've come to ask you for a little help,
                      I'm out of work.
              There aren't any funerals in Esquipulas anymore."
Before, bras were not so expensive.
Now in Esquipulas there are hardly any funerals.
You tell me: What's better?

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