One mirror must mirror another;
each mirror mismirrors the other.
Not that evil cannot be defeated,
only that we cannot escape defeat;
I believe in the ash left behind by the fire;
not in the music that burned my life.
Друг друга отражают зеркала,
Взаимно искажая отраженья.
Я верю не в непобедимость зла,
А только в неизбежность пораженья.
Не в музыку, что жизнь мою сожгла,
А в пепел, что остался от сожженья.
«3 Because once when you were young and bold / you did not leave me to rot alive among / bodies without souls or fall dead among walls / I will not let you die altogether. Because, fresh and clean, you took me / out by the hand, to freedom and brought spring leaves / in bundles into my ho...»
«4 The blow muffled through years of / forgetting, of not knowing: / That blow reaches me now like the song of a / woman, or like horses neighing. Through an inert building, a song of passion and / the blow comes: / dulled by forgetfulness, by not knowing which is / a soundless thicket....»
«It crawls, the underground snake, / crawls, with its load of people. / And each one has his / newspaper, his skin / disease; a twitch of chewing; / newspaper caries. / Masticators of gum, / readers of newspapers. And who are the readers? old men? athletes? / soldiers? No face, no fe...»
«1 My desk, most loyal friend / thank you. You’ve been with me on / every road I’ve taken. / My scar and my protection. My loaded writing mule. / Your tough legs have endured / the weight of all my dreams, and / burdens of piled-up thoughts. Thank you for toughening me. / No worl...»