Xochimilco, city of flowers. The bell clear atmosphere envelops The wind in silos of sound. Along canals that mirror murky Miraculous form decompositions, The flowers refresh themselves With casual moisture. Bloom of corrupted flowers Over imaginary mounds: death lidded The silence momentary rings Into the cupped blue sky Until the warmer commentaries Of life break through From Xochimilco, city of flowers.
Xochimilco is a real place, known for its canals, and the speaker opens and closes by naming it, so the whole poem feels held inside that one repeated phrase. What happens in between is a slow looking-over of the scene, with sound and sight blending together. Bells fill the air, the wind seems trapped in "silos of sound," and the canals reflect strange, murky shapes that the speaker calls "decompositions."
The central tension is between beauty and rot. The flowers drink "casual moisture" and refresh themselves, yet they are also "corrupted," and the phrase "death lidded" suggests something closed over, like a box or an eye. A brief silence rings into the sky until "the warmer commentaries of life" break through, perhaps the ordinary noise of people and activity. The mood is calm, dreamy, and a little uneasy: the speaker seems to admire the place while quietly acknowledging that decay sits right beside the blooming.