Poem
Amanda Aizpuriete
That probably would be best - not to care
That probably would be best - not to careabout printshops, not to allow access to my words
to those solemn and symmetrical letters -
to leave it all in the curves of my handwriting,
jerky and uneven like life.
It would be best to take the pages covered with writing
and fold them into ships, birds and butterflies,
then throw them up in the air, into the wind
fire, water.
Later they will reverentially touch the earth
in the form of ashes or wet scraps of paper,
or tired butterflies. The earth
will sprout a flower with four crescent shaped petals -
my most beautiful, quatrain. Pollen
caught in the wind, will fly searching for a new soil,
and people will inhale the strangely fragrant air ...
And in a different life
a poem turned lover will embrace me, a poem
I will have long since forgotten.
© Translation: 1997, Ieva Lešinska
Dat zou waarschijnlijk het beste zijn
Dat zou waarschijnlijk het beste zijn, me niet te bekommerenom drukkerijen, geen toegang tot mijn woorden te verlenen
tot die plechtige en gelijkmatige letters,
laat alles maar in de krommingen van mijn handschrift,
hortend en stotend zoals het leven.
Beter om de beschreven bladen
tot scheepjes te vouwen, vogels en vlinders,
ze dan los te laten in de lucht, in de wind,
vuur, water.
Later zullen ze eerbiedig de aarde beroeren,
hetzij als as, hetzij als natte snippers papier,
hetzij als vermoeide vlinders. Uit de aarde
zal een bloem ontspruiten met vier maanvormige bloembladen;
mijn mooiste kwatrijn. Stuifmeel
zal met de wind meevliegen en zal nieuwe grond zoeken,
en de mensen zullen die vreemdgeurige lucht inademen.
En in een heel ander leven
zal het gedicht, dat ik allang vergeten zou zijn, tot minnaar omgevormd, mijn schouders omhelzen.
Poems
Poems of Amanda Aizpuriete
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That probably would be best - not to care
That probably would be best - not to careabout printshops, not to allow access to my words
to those solemn and symmetrical letters -
to leave it all in the curves of my handwriting,
jerky and uneven like life.
It would be best to take the pages covered with writing
and fold them into ships, birds and butterflies,
then throw them up in the air, into the wind
fire, water.
Later they will reverentially touch the earth
in the form of ashes or wet scraps of paper,
or tired butterflies. The earth
will sprout a flower with four crescent shaped petals -
my most beautiful, quatrain. Pollen
caught in the wind, will fly searching for a new soil,
and people will inhale the strangely fragrant air ...
And in a different life
a poem turned lover will embrace me, a poem
I will have long since forgotten.
© 1997, Ieva Lešinska
Audio recorded at Poetry International Festival Rotterdam, 1997.
That probably would be best - not to care
That probably would be best - not to careabout printshops, not to allow access to my words
to those solemn and symmetrical letters -
to leave it all in the curves of my handwriting,
jerky and uneven like life.
It would be best to take the pages covered with writing
and fold them into ships, birds and butterflies,
then throw them up in the air, into the wind
fire, water.
Later they will reverentially touch the earth
in the form of ashes or wet scraps of paper,
or tired butterflies. The earth
will sprout a flower with four crescent shaped petals -
my most beautiful, quatrain. Pollen
caught in the wind, will fly searching for a new soil,
and people will inhale the strangely fragrant air ...
And in a different life
a poem turned lover will embrace me, a poem
I will have long since forgotten.
© 1997, Ieva Lešinska
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