I read these words in which I no longer recognize you
nor can I still be recognized, I know. I once said:
I as any woman—you as any man

we poke our faces through the cutouts
in carnival dummy boards
never both in the same photograph

words flow down our bodies, stream into the ground
bitter cold sets aflame the nest of the day
living beasts, knowing not what they do,
have begun to devour their own
frozen young

something of us may yet endure
in years to come
the land isn’t bad, the weather may turn favourable
grass will again grow green in these desert places
you’ll see it when you return

Translated from the Romanian by Adam J. Sorkin with the poet