marin sorescu

Developing

Today, I photographed only trees
Ten, a hundred, a thousand.
I'll develop them at night
When the soul is a dark room.
Then I'll sort them
According to leaves, according to circles,
According to their shadows.
Oh, how easily
Trees merge one into another!
Look, there's only one left
That one I'll photograph again
And then observe with terror
It resembles me.
Yesterday I photographed only stones
And the last stone
Resembled me
The day before yesterday - chairs -
And the only one left
Resembled me

Everything is so much
Like me...

I'm afraid.


Fear

Wherever I go
I take my body with me,
Because I've nowhere to leave it.
The earth, the sky,
And the water steal it.

In happiness, in love,
In sadness, and in agony,
I must feel my hands and forehead close to me,
I must feel my heart beating
Otherwise I worry.

We tremble, the way we tremble,
For the earth of our body,
Not yet evolved,
From which after every shower
Worms still appear.

trans andrea deletant and brenda walker

marin sorescu

Twice

I look at everything
Twice.
Once to be cheerful
And once to be sad.

Trees have a peal of laughter
In their crown of leaves
And a large tear
In the roots.
The sun is young
At the tip of its rays
But the rays
Are implanted in night.

The world is enclosed perfectly
Between these two covers
Where I've crammed everything
I've loved
Twice.


trans by andrea deletant and brenda walker