Last night I neglected an open eye,
And all night long I was drawn into
The darkness.

It was like the black dregs
Left at the bottom of things
In which I had to divine
The world, history, the trees
And the progress of the planets.

But no matter how I swirled
The cup of the earth,
Images settled upside down.
Instead of people, monkeys would appear,
Instead of stars-pinwheels of smoke,
Instead of trees-carnivorous mushrooms.

. . . In the morning I too had become
A giant circle
Ringing my eye,
Round with wonder.

_________________________________
translated from the Romanian by
Adam J. Sorkin and Lidia Vianu

Published with permission from the author’s estate.