Against Obscurity
The gaze lets go from ripeness.
I don’t know what to do with a gaze
overflowing from a tree,
what to do with that ardour
overflowing from the mouth,
and waiting on the ground to flow back to the source.
I don’t know the destiny of light,
but whatever it may be
it is the same as that of a gaze: the same
fraternal dust,
a delayed pain gathering, the shadow,
quivering still,
of a startled skylark.
© Translation: 2003, Alexis Levitin
From: Forbidden Words
Publisher: New Directions, New York, 2003