Be Careful

If you arrive in the nameless city, tread carefully around its center.

Be careful when you hear the cicadas.

Be careful when you smell the smoke.

This is the way Nine Abadón Street welcomes its strangers.

Over there you won't find any angels,

Over there you'll be stepping on demons.

It has borne and nourished one hundred and seventy-four tragedies.

It houses three tarot stalls, a butcher shop, and a seedy bar that old dogs like to sleep by.

The neighbors know too much, talk too little.

On holidays, they perfume it with lavender and vanilla.

During weddings, they dress it with garden roses and hidden thistles.

At funerals, the wind shakes the windows and people gather up in houses to smoke.

After all, each death means the birth of a new demon to cement the way.

So, if you find yourself facing the street.

Don't bother it, don't dare to say hello. Beware, do not turn to see it.

If it becomes interested in you, you'll end up becoming one of its cobblestones.