Distant and Never so Close
distant and never so close
we walk on/over an earth/land which sinks/capsizes/founders/collapses
lying (down) on it or simply on foot
we sense/feel the bucking/plunging/prancing about of time
it is not about fearful flames
nor ungovernable seas
on this earth/land mind and body
have the same swaying/to-ing and fro-ing/lurching/backwards and forwards motion/ups and downs/coming and goings
in the air which lacks weight
now that/since nothing is different in memory
from what we have seen or imagined
we dream as we live
waiting without certainty or science
the only thing we suspect definite/definitive/final
the final chord in the vague music
which envelops/encloses us
sometimes doubt
explicit like/as a flower
with petals and signs induces/persuades us
to turn/spin/swivel/pivot/wheel on our axes/axles
to be thirsty
to drink stained with ink/inked/ imaginary/imagined lips
in/at the oldest and most mortal wineskin
dark place/spot site/place/room/space of light
it would be the sky in the eye which looks at itself
in the hand which closes/heals
to take hold of itself/seize itself
out in the immensely open
in the end/when all is said and done as he who closes a coffin
or a letter
a ray of sunlight/sunbeam/ray of sun
like a/as a sword will rise up to blind us
and bit by bit open the darkness
like a fruit surprisingly/unexpectedly wounded
like a door/gate which hides nothing
and only guards the same thing
The literal translation of this poem was made by Gwen MacKeith
The final translated version of the poem is by The Poetry Translation Workshop
© Poetry Translation Centre 2004-2012
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