Storm
A bird the colour of almost-dawn poised
But floating spectrally above an emptiness
In the whiter emptiness of summer, beyond
This river, this city nonetheless familiar
The train-cars grip the curve as if
They would be uncoupled at the very moment
They ran into the ruins of a deserted
Town, Resafa with its gypsum ramparts
The tracks straying between two points in time
Or space with no visible distortion
The hereafter is the here-and-now seen differently
If you believe the omens in the blind spot
Where luck with no key, poetry lies in ambush
But floating spectrally above an emptiness
In the whiter emptiness of summer, beyond
This river, this city nonetheless familiar
The train-cars grip the curve as if
They would be uncoupled at the very moment
They ran into the ruins of a deserted
Town, Resafa with its gypsum ramparts
The tracks straying between two points in time
Or space with no visible distortion
The hereafter is the here-and-now seen differently
If you believe the omens in the blind spot
Where luck with no key, poetry lies in ambush
Translated by Marilyn Hacker
Page(s) 94
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