a chair in snow

A chair in snow
should be
like any other object whited
& rounded

and yet a chair in snow is always sad

more than a bed
more than a hat or house
a chair is shaped for just one thing

to hold
a soul its quick and few bendable
hours

perhaps a king

not to hold snow
not to hold flowers.

Jane Hirshfield

No, I don't have any further information
about love

only that it is
a flame's gleam
from a votive glass on a star's grave

it remains alive night and day
in storm rain and snow
without oil without wick

burns on its own
as if love is a miracle

and since our subsistence
dangles from the miracle

we believe blindly in the everlasting
committal flame of love.

Only when you approach with your candle
to take the flame back home

this flame
dies out after a few steps

on its own

without storm rain and snow

in the same way that every miracle dies out
when you detach it from its nourishing idea.

Kikí Dimoula

10

un viento débil
lleno de rostros doblados
que recorto en forma de objetos que amar

Alejandra Pizarnik

cuando recuerdo

Cuando recuerdo
las caricias de tus manos
ya no soy la muchacha
que tranquila peina sus cabellos
ordena las ollas de barro
sobre el estante de pino
Desamparada siento
cómo las llamas de tus dedos
encienden el cuello los hombros
Me paro a veces así
en el medio del día
sobre la calle blanca
y me tapo los labios con la mano
No puedo
ponerme a gritar.

Malgorzata Hillar