El Feo

Por Fernando Muñoz

El feo se mira al espejo.
En la soledad del baño,
su cara le parece como un membrillo,
como una pasa mal formada,
un higo seco.
El feo no solo observa su cara con desagrado,
también su cuerpo,
sus brazos flacos y largos,
dos hilos colgando de sus hombros.
El feo piensa
que si tuviese una barba,
tal vez no se vería tan feo.
—La ampolleta titila un instante--
El feo vuelve a su realidad,
a su fealdad.
(Sale de su baño
y se viste en su cuarto.
Su ropa también es fea,
así como el cuarto.)
—No tiene hambre--
Emprende su camino a su trabajo,
que queda en un edificio bien feo,
de esos de los años sesenta o setenta:
utilitario.
Camina por calles feas,
con grafiti, mugrosas,
todo cubierto por un hollín
que se ha ido juntando con los años.
El feo se sienta en su escritorio, un tanto feo,
una silla incómoda y destartalada,
en una oficina
(como lo has de adivinar)
con una vista muy fea.
Por un instante la recuerda y sonríe,
un recuerdo como un sueño lejano
que se desvanece en la memoria,
cuando las cosas no eran tan feas.

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The Ugly One
By Fernando Muñoz

The ugly one looks at himself in the mirror.
In the solitude of the bathroom,
his face seems to him like a quince,
like a misshapen raisin,
a dried fig.
The ugly one does not only observe his face with displeasure,
but also his body,
his thin, long arms,
two threads dangling from his shoulders.
The ugly one thinks
that if he had a beard,
perhaps he wouldn’t look so ugly.
—The lightbulb flickers for a moment--
The ugly one returns to his reality,
to his ugliness.
(He leaves the bathroom
and gets dressed in his room.
His clothes are ugly too,
just like the room.)
—He is not hungry--
He sets off for work,
which is in a very ugly building,
one of those from the sixties or seventies:
utilitarian.
He walks through ugly streets,
covered in graffiti, filthy,
everything coated in a soot
that has accumulated over the years.
The ugly one sits at his desk, somewhat ugly,
on an uncomfortable, rickety chair,
in an office
(as you might guess)
with a very ugly view.
For a moment, he remembers her and smiles,
a memory like a distant dream
fading in his mind,
when things weren’t so ugly.

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