Ştefan Augustin Doinaş

How Beautifully you Tick

And Let

 How Beautifully you Tick

how beautifully you tick

well oiled mechanism

of my submission

don’t let him come

or anyone else like him

to rest his ear

here

so as to count

the concocted feasts

nor let his locksmiths

twist the little key

in my back

with their zeal:

I would feel

like a kangaroo

keeping in its pouch

a grenade

                                                                        translated by Adam J. Sorkin and Liliana Ursu

 And Let

And let the grain which I brought from the mill

(the heavier it is, the more putrescible)

in its tender-firm kernel with dying fill

(the grayer it is, the more comestible)

let the lion roar led astray by dust

(the crueler it is, the more incredible)

from white skulls let the bindweed spring robust

(the slower it is, the more invisible)

and above us spider cast warp and woof

(the lower it is, the more intangible)

to catch the door and thread it to the roof

(the more refined it is, the more invincible)

how meek is the body in the soul so terrible!

                                                                        translated by Adam J. Sorkin and Liliana Ursu