"Flu Song in Spanish"

God of the bees, god of gold keys, god of all in-
famous noses, I folded our total
in two today--I drove alone
and I walked away (as if each mile up your hill
were a letter in a word I'm inventing).
So I stuck my head in a hole and stood.
So far so. So far
good. Now I wear that hole like a hood
in a house
of inscrutable signals.

God of the guess, god of the gap
mind if I make you a martyr?
If the sky says anything, it's everything! At once!
(Nor did you answer my question.)
So I stick my head in a hole and stand. So far
so far. So far, grand. Sand in my pants and ants
in the box, I wish there were bells
for when I should stop. Show me the bell for when I should stop!
(Not that I'd know
when to ring it.)

Grant me the grace and I'll fix it. Shit.
My father (that bitch!) he hides
at the head
of his third wife's table.
The man says one thing, then it's nothing
for months (though I've always been
welcome to dinner).
So I stuck my head in a hole instead.
So far: slow car: sofa bed. A brick in the back
where he buries the dead. His task is her
two daughters.

God of the aster, God of disaster, God of
charisma and risk: if the word and the wing
are the same stringy thing
then what in the world will I say?
The sign means so much: you translate
my hunch (there's no chance
in hell today). So I stick my head in a hole and drown. So far
lost, so far
found: a bone-cutter's house in a blood-lit town--I swear
I'll tear your eyes away.

--Kary Wayson