with the apple in the apple-pose,
guiltless-guilty once and for all
of the growing she gave birth to
since form the circle of eternities
loving she went forth, top struggle through
her way throughout the earth like a young year.
Ah, gladly yet a little in that land
Would she have lingered, heeding the harmony
And understanding of the animals.
But since she found the man determined,
She went with him, aspiring after death,
And she had as yet hardly known God.
fully at ease in themselves, whose eyesreach from their lives’ roundedness no differentlythan portraits do from frames; forgot that Iwith all I did incessantly crammedlooks into myself; looks, opinion, curiosity.Who knows: perhaps eyes form in spaceand look on everywhere. Ah, only plunged toward youdoes my face cease being on display, growsinto you and twines on…
Not having reaped you, oh my days,my nights, have I let the slow flamesof your lovely produce fall into ashes?My nights, my days, you have borne so much!All your branches have retained the gestureof that long labor you are rising from:my days, my nights. Oh my rustic friends!I look for what was so good for…
Little rivulets of water changedtheir singing accents. Tendernesses,hesitantly, reach toward the earthfrom space, and country lanes are showingthese unexpected subtle risingsthat find expression in the empty trees.
is like the lumbering gait of the swan.And then our dying—releasing ourselvesfrom the very ground on which we stood—is like the way he hesitantly lowers himselfinto the water. It gently receives him,and, gladly yielding, flows back beneath him,as wave follows wave,while he, now wholly serene and sure,with regal composure,allows himself to glide.translation by Joanna Macy…
to show death admiration, love or hate;his mask of feigned tragic lament gives usa false impression. The world’s stage is stillfilled with roles which we play. While we worrythat our performances may not please,death also performs, although to no applause.But as you left us, there broke upon this stagea glimpse of reality, shown through the…
a project, too large a morselfor the heart’s mouth.Future, who won’t wait for you?Everyone is going there.It suffices you to deepenthe absence that we are.Translated by A. Poulin
