Poems by L媒dia Vadkerti-Gavorn铆kov谩

WIND

At the start cautious

like someone sightless

fumbling the home

and searching for the door

It bangs the window with its head

Walls will wail

window glass clink

chimneys begin to howl qith melancholy

and drums crack in the ears of jugs

Then on the door the latch rattles

like noon in a听pocket watch

and corners start to cuckoo midnight

Meanwhile the wind has dragged itself inside

the violin鈥檚 little cavity through the bass key

and is already whistling in church

in verses full of windlessnesss

And you mutely put up whit them

DESIRE

To get into the poem

like the pip in a听cherry

To tuck yourself up in it

as in a听lap

To sweat in it

as in your own skin

To preserve yourself in it

as in the grave

Words Words Words

Go poem go

take yourself off to an old willow

Whisper to the hollow trunk

So no-one can hear

that the poet is

naked

Words Words Words

All we have on

Nothing more

Nothing less

FALLING ASLEEP

Father,

who fashioned听 this bed

from punctilious planks

for a听whole life long

now help me seek out

lost children.

Or better a听new berth

fixed together from the unpunctual

bark of conifers

at least for one night

let me lie as in pine needles

let a听forest grow over me

Hasten

Already the moment is passing

Already somewhere it has caught fire

And a听squirrel

through the burnt-out ground

Behind her the dog

Amen

WHITE NIGHTS WITH A听ROOSTER

There鈥檒l be, my daughter,

white nights

with a听rooster on the roof

Shadow split by lightning

A听double lonelinesss

And beyond the blaze of the slates

you鈥檒l ignite a听field of poppies

Wolf-dark will come

You鈥檒l go in a听red

circle

One leg

will catch up the other

There鈥檒l be, my daughter,

red nights

with a听rooster in the well

A听multiple picture of the moon

sparkling beneath the surface

And听 how ever much you scoop up

then so much the less

You鈥檒l drop the tiny key

of a听child鈥檚 treasure chest

into the well

You鈥檒l hear upside-down buckets

rattle above the water

Behind the blind window the goatsucker

will hoot at billy goat corner:

(The maiden dreamed in a听white heat

her little bed caught fire beneath her)

She sleeps

Her pretty head streams out

over the bedside

as if she already knew

听Translated by听Viera and James Sutherland-Smith