Translated from an Unknown Language

When we think about dying,
As does a woman I know
Terrified to leave her house,

Who lives in a darkened bed
With a glowing oracle
While, outside her window, sun

Raises flowers and tomatoes,
Blue lizards bask on stucco,
And a wren sings on the gate,

It is like we are reading
About death as translation
With only the translation

And all of the translators
Acknowledging they’re working
From earlier translations.

The woman reads avidly,
When she thinks about dying,
Alert as a hungry bird.