ROY CAMPBELL'S CONCEPTION

Translating Juan de la Cruz
you feel you are not
taken in by the Left
and you were right
that there was excess
in the persecution
of the monks and priests
yet you lose
all Republican virtue
creating a mighty fortress
for Franco
who allowed the Jews
to survive if they escape
like Walter Benjamin
who almost
made it back to Spain
yet committed suicide
from centuries in fury
and antisemitic folly,
waking up
his unconventional years
of philosophical pain
when all positions fail
from those political gods
by the wall that wails
under Inquisitions
and the Holy Grail
near Roy Campbell's
prayerful interventions.