Hilda Hilst: Alcoólicas (II)

II.
Also raw and hard are the words and faces
Before we sit at the table, you and I, Life
Before the shimmery gold of drink. Slowly
Stillnesses, water lentils, diamonds appear
Over past and present insults. Slowly
We are two ladies, soaking in laughter, rosy
Like a berry, the one that I glimpsed in your breath, friend
When you allowed me paradise. The sinister of hours
Becomes a time of conquest. Languor and suffering
Become forgetfulness. After we lay down, death
Is a king who visits and covers us with myrrh.
You whisper: Ah, life is liquid.