Roi, the Toxic Boy
Tim Burton (EEUU, 1958 - )
To those who knew him
-his friends-
we called him Roi.
To others he was known
as that horrible Toxic Boy.
He loved ammonia and asbestos,
and lots of cigarette smoke.
What he breathed in for air
would make other people choke!
His very favorite toy
was a can of aerosol spray;
he'd sit quietly and shake it,
and spray it all the day.
He'd stand inside the garage
in the early-morning frost,
waiting for the car to start
and fill him with exhaust.
The one and only time
I ever saw Toxic Boy cry
was when some sodium chloride
got into his eye.
One day for fresh air
they put him in the garden.
His face went deathly pale
and his body began to harden.
The final gasp of his short life
was sickly with despair.
Whoever thought that you could die
from breathing outdoor air?
As Roi's soul left his body
we all said a silent prayer.
It drifted up to heaven
and left a hole in the ozone layer.
Niño Tóxico
Quienes de verdad lo amamos
lo llamamos siempre Roi.
Niño Tóxico, en cambio,
lo apodaban los demás.
Inhalaba Niño Tóxico
humo, asbestos y amoniaco.
Para él era oxÃgeno
todo lo cancerÃgeno.
Su juguete favorito
era un bote de aerosol
que disparaba solito
todo el dÃa, de sol a sol.
Se levantaba aún de noche
a esperar en la cochera
a que el motor se encendiera
y, tras carraspear, el coche
lo maquillara - muy mono -
con bióxido de carbono.
Una sola vez lloró,
mas no por tristeza ni odio,
es que en los ojos le entró
algún cloruro de sodio.
Por darle algo de aire cálido
lo sacaron al jardÃn.
Se puso al instante pálido
y tieso como espadÃn.
Tieso y duro, sÃ, muy duro.
Pues ¿quién podrÃa colegir
que uno pudiera morir
de respirar aire puro?
Voló su alma en pos del trono
celestial del señor. Pero
abriendo un gran agujero
allá en la capa de ozono.
