(English version: “Dark and sticky shadow” – Brett Hetherington and Antoni Cardona, translators)

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Slippery and heavy,
it runs tired of the rejection that it provokes,
without a ceasefire the shadow looks for someone to hang onto.
It tries convincing pederasts,
parent-killers, robbers, assassins of royalty,
rapists, genocidal-maniacs, pyromaniacs,
among other sinister characters.

So laudable and beneficial, the task,
and only a few with pedigree that want to accept it.
Some have a victim they leave it with,
or endowed with a slippery eel skin they can use to escape,
or confess to a priest what he’d want to forgive
with a paternoster, a salve and three Hail Marys.

Guilt will always find naïve souls.

Ombra fosca i enganxosa

Esmunyedissa i feixuga,

corre cansada del rebuig que suscita,

sense treva cerca algú on penjar-se.

S’esforça per convèncer pederastes,

parricides, atracadors, magnicides,

violadors, genocides, piròmans,

entre molts altres sinistres personatges.

Tan encomiable i benèfica, la tasca,

i pocs amb pedigrí que vulguin assumir-la.

Uns tenen víctima a qui cedir-la,

o dotats de pell d’anguila es fan escàpols,

o els confessa un mossèn que els vulgui absoldre

amb un parenostre, una salve i tres avemaries,

Sempre, la culpa, trobarà ànimes càndides.

Antoni Cardona i Torras,

2024