Gunnar Harding
Mussorgsky October 1972
The green eye of the radio shines
as he plays for me this evening. It’s the light
on one of music’s wing-tips
where it flies on beside me
carrying me through the darkness
where flesh and muscles are consumed
digested into darkness. Under us
the charred birch forest
and the shining eye
on the bottom of a lake.
The rain-streaks on the window
are horizontal. We’re on our way there
where the rain comes from. It’s the same place
as the dreams come from.
That’s why we so often wake from a dream
with tears in our eyes.
O Captain Mussorgsky,
my feet are so heavy
they leave tracks like typewriter keys.
The music leaves no tracks, soft steps
over the surface down there.
It fills my thoughts
with lake water.
DON’T PLUCK THE WATER LILIES!
They belong to us
who drowned in music.
Translated by Robin Fulton
Page(s) 43-44
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