JAAN KAPLINSKI
ALL IN ONE
one in all
mind in body
the strange in the ordinary
the ordinary in the strange
a swarm of bees
in an old chest
in the loft
of an abandoned
farmhouse
MAY YOU BE
the mild soft
summer night
of my non-existent
childhood
covering me
with its huge
voiceless wings
EVERY UNDERSTANDING
comes in due time
your rough little cheeks
first snow
always
to someone
for the first
for someone
for the last
time
IF I MUST BE
at all then let
me be a tiny
fleeting
transparent
almost bodiless
mindless
nothing through
which can flow
the infinite
light of being
of becoming
Amitabha
INFINITE LIGHT
of the night where
the flowing world
becomes fleetingly transparent
and on my right
your breathing
we have been
so thirsty
so silent
we two together
on the seashore sometimes
in Saaremaa
THE WHITE VASE
on the white piano
glowing
through the blue
stream of dusk
that carries
me with
myself
with this house
this room
this you
I am ready
to go
to flow
it is good
like remembering
that I
have stored the matches
and firewood
for winter
A PURE AND BURNING
thirst for you
the greatest
deepest longing
gives your hand
into mine
between your two phrases
between two glances
the wind
rustles over the forest
LITTLE BY LITTLE
OUR DIRTY RIVER
flows itself clean
little by little
perhaps we too
manage
to take each other
by hand
back to the endless
purity of
this world
understanding
we have never
really left it
TODAY
forever
let me look
with your
gentle glance
through myself
through the twilight
that floods
our room
our world
JAAN KAPLINSKI
THE SAME SEA IN US ALL
Breitenbush Books, 1985
Translated from the Estonian
by the author and Sam Hamill
