Last night I neglected an open eye,
And all night long I was drawn into
The darkness.
It was like the black dregs
Left at the bottom of things
In which I had to divine
The world, history, the trees
And the progress of the planets.
But no matter how I swirled
The cup of the earth,
Images settled upside down.
Instead of people, monkeys would appear,
Instead of stars-pinwheels of smoke,
Instead of trees-carnivorous mushrooms.
. . . In the morning I too had become
A giant circle
Ringing my eye,
Round with wonder.
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translated from the Romanian by
Adam J. Sorkin and Lidia Vianu
Published with permission from the author's estate.
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