George Szirtes - Body Songs

1.Back

Slipping his hand down her back he felt her heat,
As creaturely as his own but far better. Her head
Was cool to the touch. Where did they meet,
These two conditions? What was mid-point here?
It was where the nature of creatureliness resided,
Half way between acute desire and fear.

2.Skull

You feel the bones of the face. It is like weeping.
Do animals weep? She seemed to be buoyed
On an enormous reservoir of tears. Her sleeping
Contained time in a cupping of hands,
A time that was to be lamented but enjoyed
In environments of working cells and glands.

3.Leg

Your leg, it seems nothing. Your eyes count
For little. Your organs are obscure, your limbs
Anonymous. Your bodily fluids don’t amount
To a hill of beans, but you are lost in awe
Of the poor rags that live in your dreams
Where desire is king and obeys no law.

4.Neck

The delicate architecture of the neck demands
Study. One needs a certain scholarly devotion
To appreciate its fragility refined into bands
Of necklace, light, and shadow. The very notion
Of its existence has a faintly oriental
Exotic flavour that is not merely accidental.

5.Skin

Skin is enough to send a rhyme-scheme skew-whiff.
Could one but fix a voltmeter to the small bones
Of the wrist it would read off the scale. It is as if
There were convulsions in the circuit. The soles
Of the feet are mother-boards for the stones
We must rush across as if they were hot coals.

6.Heart

What is it burns us up? Let me feel your temple.
Is it your heart, my small and wonderful source
Of delight? My own organ is a poor example
Of the organ maker’s art. My chest wheezes
With its burden, my blood stutters along its course,
My genes whisper lamentable inherited diseases.

7.Aging

The dynamics of aging: a gust of wind
On the surface of the pond. What creatures
Live down there? Deep down perhaps, blind
Animalculae are gathering beneath a rock
Among flamboyant fish with macabre features
Registering various states of shock.

8.Waist

Slenderest. The point at which you break
Into two is where I most like to hold
You together. It is there I feel the ache
Of your otherness, before you expand
Above and below into that blithe controlled
Delight that makes my own flesh stretch and stand.

9.Belly

The dome of the world. Its peculiar swelling
Presents a purely lascivious curve
At tension with itself, smelling
Vaguely of perfume and earth. It is
The last of the good times, the reserve
Of the well fed once gorged on vanities.

10.Hand

Almost another independent being
Stuck to your wrist. I hold it as it grows
Flowers and closes on whatever it’s carrying.
I have wandered down its alleyways
From which everything else follows
That finger points to and palm weighs.

George Szirtes - Cantece despre corp

1.Despre spate

Lasandu-si mana-n jos pe spate,ii simti caldura
De faptura,ca a lui, dar mult mai buna.Capu-i
Era rece la atingere.Unde s-au intalnit oare
Aceste doua entitati? Ce-aveau in comun aici?
In locul unde natura fiintei salasluia,
La jumatatea drumului dintre dorinta puternica si frica.

2.Despre teasta

Pipai oasele fetei sale. E ca plansul.
Plang si animalele? Parea legata
De un enorm rezervor de lacrimi.Somnul ei
Tinea timpul in causul mainilor.
Un timp ce urma sa fie plans si nu sarbatorit
In mijlocul celulelor si glandelor lucratiare.

3.Despre picior

Piciorul tau, pare nesemnificativ. Ochii conteaza
Putin. Organele-ti sunt lipsite de importanta,iar membrele
Anonime. Lichidele corpului tau nu cantaresc
Nici cat o frunza-n vant, dar esti coplesita de admiratia
Sarmanelor zdrente ce traiesc in visele tale,
Unde dorinta conduce si nu respecta nici o lege.

4.Despre inima

Ce ne arde? Lasa-ma sa-ti simt tampla.
E inima ta, sursa mea unica si minunata
De-ncantare?Propriul meu organ este un biet exemplu
Al artei creatorului de organe. Pieptu-mi bazaie
De povara, sangele se poticneste-n cursul sau,
Genele soptesc boli triste, mostenite.

7.Despre imbatranire

Dinamica imabatranirii: o pala dura de vant
Pe luciul lacului. Ce alcatuiri
Locuiesc acolo jos? Poate in adanc, oarbe
Anumalute se aduna sub o stanca
Printre pesti viu colorati, cu trasaturi macabre
Pe care se tes socuri multe.

8.Despre talie

Cea mai supla. De locul din care te rupi
In doua imi place cel mai mult sa te tin
Intreaga.Acolo simt durerea
Ca esti altcineva, inainte de a te extinde
Deasupra si dedesubt in acea vesela si controlata
Incantare ce-mi da invierea carnii, ridicand-o.

9.Despre pantece

Domul lumii. Umflarea ciudata
Arata o curba pur lasciva
Incordata ei insasi, mirosind
Vag a parfum si tarana. este
Sfarsitul timpurilkor bune, rezerva
Celor bine hraniti, candva-ndopati cu vanitati.

10.Despre mana

Aproape o alta entitate
Prinsa de-ncheietura ta. O tin cand din ea
Cresc flori si cand se-nchide asupra a tot ce cara.
Am hoinarit pe aleele sale
De unde tot altceva urmeaza,
Ceea ce degetul arata si palma cantareste.

Translated by Mihaela Guzu