The Touch of April 2020

sheep chickens and dogs for company in the poet’s
Wales that levitates at the core of all times

a tulip risen from nowhere at my gate, violets
blossoming among stones in the backyard – suddenly
close-up, bigger than life on this patch of ground
in the middle of an American city that is suspended
waiting
waiting what is worst - and the expanse
of a fresh horizon
after

our steps cannot take us far at this time, our gaze
can: when the crescent moon rises
touch your forehead
and the forehead of who is close-by
with a gold ring, for good luck and life renewed
- as Romanians of old used to

when the crescent moon rises
your loved ones from afar will feel the touch
of your golden ring on their forehead

Blackberry

that big blackberry
there
is the word I need
in my line

I’ve tried to get it

nettles and thorns
hurt my hand

that ripe blackberry
gleaming
in the thicket

Early March

have you seen, have you seen the sickle of the moon
in our earthly counter-point?

does it touch the crown of trees in your land
does it also pour down astonishing
astonished blossoms
that close at night to survive
the frost

survive and open again, drunken with light
in the morning?

Have they also reached your land, these low clouds
as heavy as udders shedding snow

the snow of lambs, they call it in Romanian
“ninsoarea mieilor”
when Dochia, the Carpathian Daughter, so young
yet as old as mountains, shakes off
the wool of her nine wintry capes
her nine furry shepherd’s cloaks,  to tell us
her story about the danger
behind a sunny morning smile

about the light sleep of savagery
between seasons

Our Quick Time

Our quick times turn us all into strangers
a newcomer, each of us
every day

you don’t think so? just go to the place
where you grew up, for example
and see what you find

- but there’s a longer way we have to go now
               - back or forward? -
and spell again the language to speak with
the Empress of Bees, with the King of Fish
the Father of Wolves and the Old Serpent Mother
blood of our blood, bone of our bone
left behind
waiting on our threshold

there are online sites to teach yourself languages
that may be a help