Two Poems
by Guido Monte
Poetry
(Swans - November 20, 2006)
Vademecum
I . Basho's water sound
the darkness lit up, mantled with stars—
we 're maskers...but at the end
everything passes over us
fuerunt olim, once upon a time, primordial lands...
pristinae terrae—
life faded away slowly
(as sometimes happens, leniter vitae labante memoria)
and vanished into the water sound
II . History
"tell me who can go everywhere"—
to laugh at our nothingness,
you needn't go somewhere else
and the land was left barren
war'a hawat toh waboh
"...si la sfarsit marea
sa inchis deasupra noi,
till the sea closed upon us"*
( misan ainaihum, ormai non vedono più
now we cannot see them)
navigamus hinc alia aqua
we're going nowhere
III . Four Conclusions
so it's said:
"nobody we are,
mixed with nothingness"
eka) ru/remostrances,
against the criminal presidents
for slowing down the fall-out clock,
l'orologio della pioggia radioattiva,
pentru a inceta liniutele ciasului
de la pluoaia radioactiva;
dva) sneha/endearments, to soothe
your smooth skin (worried skin,
about time going by, tempus fugit;)
tri) nayana/eyes, to attract on
rivers suns mountains oceans
quattuor) darkness, tamas...
So 'ham,** HOM
notes:
the author thanks Giusy Chirco and Raluca Hartea.
* ...till the sea closed upon us : Dante A., Inferno XXVI, v.142.
** The Sanskrit mantra So 'ham means "you're That."
Pulvis et umbra n.2 (Dust and shade n.2)
(Marie Rennard, Theocritus, Horace, Kazue Daikoku)
Under a tree in the shade
I'll sleep in a flower of sand
enide sighe men pontos,
while sea is silent—
and in the deep reds of dying sun
sigonti d'aetai, winds are silent—
Dans l'ombre, dans l'ombre humide
spatio brevi spem longam reseces,
in the shade, in one short breath
treasure your long desire
et words mixed with laughter
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