English / Sample translations /

Poems

(Translated by Dominika Winterová and Richard Katrovas)

*

He was scary as living
meat under the mallet
and she was still
grasping for happiness

And even at the finish line
to which she returned
searching only for him
he passed her

On that same track where they
were gauged only by
different stopwatches

(Closeness Grown Old, 1996)



*

I own nothing here
Ancestral home, childhood garden
are kept by proprietors, the nephews,
under lock

On the streets
I gather in my arms
dear long-gone heads
vanished
over years, days

(The Wild Track of Home, 1998)



*

I came across an old drunk
Whose beloved body long ago shivered
Over mine
He spotted me but shambled on
along the wall
encompassed by those dead
whom the world
requires

(The Wild Track of Home, 1998)



*

How she loved him
and how many hours
she spent standing at his door

Still after years
she let him hold
her child by another

No longer is there suffering
The dead are hers alone

all through days and into nights
an adoring faithful beast
lying at her feet

(The Wild Track of Home, 1998)



*

Her resplendent
Smile then
Today she proffers
From her plump old hands
A kindly touch
Which assumes
And blossoms
In spite of life

(The Wild Track of Home, 1998)