Guy Goffette
Construction Site of the Elegy IV
IV
But death has passed its heavy hand
through the thick hair of summers
and the last sun has made a torch
before us from the rags of the lime-tree
splashing with purple and gold as usual
the closed garden of our love
and our eyes, then the fog
came, and your tears, and winter
snagging on the horizon’s barbed wire
the first ball-gown, the seamless
dress and the unkept promise
to change the water of our days to wine
to change the water, every day,
and thirst, and the sea,
the world’s bitter face,
every day
- in vain.
But death has passed its heavy hand
through the thick hair of summers
and the last sun has made a torch
before us from the rags of the lime-tree
splashing with purple and gold as usual
the closed garden of our love
and our eyes, then the fog
came, and your tears, and winter
snagging on the horizon’s barbed wire
the first ball-gown, the seamless
dress and the unkept promise
to change the water of our days to wine
to change the water, every day,
and thirst, and the sea,
the world’s bitter face,
every day
- in vain.
Translated by Marilyn Hacker
Page(s) 108
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