Before a painting by Jordi Pallarés

       “Ante un cuadro de
             Jordi Pallarés”

The selfsame light that inflames
the yellows of a sun
that will never flicker out
illuminates your blacks,
which reveal
that there, where there is nothing,
everything gleams.
Your reds horrify us,
for we witness ourselves
split open
across your canvases,
after the sacrifice.
Pictures such as yours
can cause trembling
in one who doesn’t know
that to paint is to feel
the harsh shudder
of pure beauty.

            —from Un pez que va por el jardín [A Fish Who Wanders through the Garden]