CHOSEN MEANS
That day was not sunny.
Nothing interrupted the night
preceding it.
Yet in the room one could sense
what we call noon.
The phone could ring any moment.
It's only postponed for a short while.
Silence changes the scene
once it is established.
Silence is always long if you are waiting
to change your mind.
Purpose remains unfinished on paper.
The urges deviate to an unknown direction.
The falcon is short of breath. The loaf is broken.
The glass shatters. The road flows over.
Blood is never ordinary.
Those who don't speak out are at an advantage.
The means of expression are chosen
to retain the feeling of freedom
to the end.
"The Marquise went out at 5 o'clock".*
There is no more doubt that the discourse is lyric.
All happens at the same time, in the meantime.
In another town the Marquis draws the curtains
and gets undressed. The lover has no right
to leave traces on things.
The body is something else.
Memory.
Maybe it hesitates, but
in spite of everything
it takes out the key,
it shuts the little eye,
it shares time
without pleasure
exactly at 5 o'clock in the afternoon.
* Allusion to the expression and the theoretical views of Paul Valery on
prose discourse.
Translated by Ilija Casule and Thomas Shapcott
