Rosalia, Adulteress.

Snodgrass, Kathleen

Rosalia, Adulteress

 Mama, tell Aspiri I forgive him;
 I can certainly understand other people's feelings
 Seeing as how I'm not like the guy who tore open my chest with two
 bullets
 On account of my feelings. I know I did wrong
 With Lopez, the politician. Chetumal
 Was right about all that;
 What they could never understand
 Was that I
 Was also a woman in love.
 Everybody saw me as the only one to blame
 For my death and for Aspiri's going to prison;
 They never understood
 That he'd neglected me for his own concerns.
 He'd left me alone all day
 And I tried to amuse myself, somehow.
 Then I got a job
 In the Governor's Mansion. And looking out at the sea of the Bahia
 And the jetty, hearing the noise of children
 When they were let out of school
 My love for Lopez was born;
 He wooed me so cleverly
 I couldn't help but notice him.
 And Chetumal said my passion
 Was murkier than the sea of the Bahia.
 And it was. But, just the same, every afternoon
 The sea gives off a refreshing breeze.