The Toreador

It was after the Fiesta Mayor de Barcelona
that Conchita received her "matador",
and placed him on the mantelpiece
amidst a fine collection of Iberian art.

She had snatched him from a life of starvation,
dressed him in a traje de luz,
and presented him as a novillero.

But Fernando Perez graduated to a toreador
and aficionados throughout Spain argued
about his skill and courage at the moment of truth.
Some likened him to El Vitti, others to Paco Camino,
while a few veterans said he resembled Belmonte.

But it was the same aficionados who hissed
en la Plaza Monumental,
when Perez hesitated
and suffered a fatal cogida.

That same afternoon
Conchita took Fernando Perez
from her mantelpiece,
and threw him into the fire.
Then went to the calle Escudillers
and drank with the aficionados.

Keit N. G. Bradley

(En Encounter, Londres, diciembre de 1972)