WILD THOUGHT
"First, we men must hunt.
Later, in caves
with their hidden challenges of light
we draw selected moments of the chase
with arrows and deer
with lances and bison.
Some of us dream
strange animals
manes wrapped around their necks
and with stout thighs
to gallop like gaudy girls
they have hoofs made for lengthy pawing
they are creatures that neigh and froth
that melt from kindness
creatures unseen in the real world
unridden, never brought to the hunt
I'd say unbridled, unsaddled
unmated
and I don't know where these words gush out from
unknown like the animals
and with clear eyes.
Maybe I am one of those
who paint the testimony of their dreams
who refuse to hunt or to kill
with the half-open mouth of the arrow
to cram their own mouths full
and the mouths of their women,
who pick windfall fruits
and who pray for us
so that we may hunt down more than we need.
(Those women who think otherwise
send their souls
to be shields for the fawns,
send their curse upon the arrows).
In greeting they offer us
rich firing
they burn the god of sin before we go to sleep
so that the screams of the victims will be forgotten
sharpness more piercing than the sharp arrow blades
so that we may die night after night
unspared from false death and its horror
which envies those who screamed
once and for all."
Translated by Ilija Casule and Thomas Shapcott
