Varda Poem
for Yanko
You who taught numbers to know the rainbow
Who opened every door in the celestial city
Who always made more when there was less
Who enchanted birds
Who loved all things except the mean
Should you be seen
Dancing in your golden ashes
About half a league off our port beam
As we go out the Gate
While the sun sets clear
Will you tell us one more time
How hard it is to be human
When it's so easy to be divine
_______________________
Shapeshifter
Alice Paalen Rahon
New York Review of Books
Translated by Mary Ann Caws
2021
