Glenday, John: The Ugly

I love you as I love the Hatchetfish,
the Allmouth, the Angler,
the Sawbelly and Wolf-eel,
the Stoplight Loosejaw, the Fangtooth;

all our sweet bathypelagic ones,
and especially those too terrible or sly
even for Latin names; who staple
their menfolk to the vagina’s hide

like scorched purses, stiff with seed;
whom God built to trawl
endless cathedrals of darkness,
their bland eyes gaping like sores;

who would choke down hunger itself,
had it pith and gristle enough;
who carry on their foreheads
the trembling light of the world.

Volim te kao što volim bradača,

grdobinu, ribolovca,

alozu i vučju jegulju,

grimiznu arovanu, zmijozubca;

sve naša slatke batipelage

i latinska imena specialno užasnih

ili podmuklih; ko plete

ova stvorenja u skrovište usmina

poput spaljene torbice, ukočenog semena;

koje je Bog zato stvorio da bi

beskrajne katedrale mraka telglili,

blage oči su im kao razapljene rane;

ko bi ugušio svoju glad

ako ima dovoljno slada i creva;

ko nosi na svojim čelima

drhtavo svetlo sveta.