Monday, April 30, 2012

EARTH ~





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