agosto 1999, after the painting by Bernardo Gonzalez L.

He passes this wall every day. At seven years old,
everything is interesting, and this mural painted red
on a brick wall he’s seen every day as he walks, he sees her
dressed in Tehuana, the clothes of the Tehuantapec.
This tradition of many colors is bold and this boy,
year after year, is drawn to the red, yellow, blue,
orange embroidery, itself a dance, and now that he is nine,
he knows that soon he wants to dance.

This woman, a portrait on a brick wall, hypnotizes him;
he doesn’t know why but this brick, this wall, this dress
draws him closer every day.
This woman, this Juchiteca, sells cigarettes in the corner bar.
All the men flirt with her, and although she is shy, she flirts back.
Walking home, she crosses in front of the church,
she crosses herself, needs blessing for another day.
This boy, who celebrates with the Padre every Sunday,
crosses himself when he sees La Tehuana,
and he doesn't know why she was painted there,
and nobody will tell him her story.

He’s eleven years old. Thing being to grow;
soft fuzz on his lip, an awareness that the world has many colors,
that he is attracted to the unusual, and the world is magic.
He prays that on his birthday he will understand the thoughts
swimming in his head, inchoate, and in his search,
he finds a trunk in the basement. Inside, a dress.
Colors of blue, red, yellow excite him and he lifts up the dress
and begins to dance. He starts to laugh and touches his throat.
He wants to feel the sound, he wants to feel it throb,
he wants to know every texture that exists in the world.

He thanks God for this happiness and dances up the stairs
and into the street, singing a song of red and blue and orange.
He passes the church and crosses himself. People look at him
in wonder for he carries this dress and laughs and dances in front of God.
Down the block he visits the mural he’s seen all his life
and looks in her eyes. She winks at him and hold out her hand.
They dance together, their colors lighting the world,
and he notices for the first time an Adam’s apple.
He feels a lump in his throat and wings in his feet.
He knows now, and they dance until the sunrise
and the sun imitates all their colors: the red, the orange, yellow and blue
and they they laugh, these three, understanding the trinity.