Translated by W. D. Snodgrass with Dona Rosu and Luciana Costea
In front of my house where I live with myself
An unexampled hubbub happened—
All mankind was congregated there
Trying to break into my poems.
Scarcely able to hold back these waves of humanity,
I ran in a lather back and forth
Handing out number cards.
Also present there were forests, mountains and risings of the moon.
They’d heard that poems were around there
And showed up from force of habit.
To satisfy both humans and nature
I chose the most energetic persons,
Asking them to embrace,
Along with their own joys and sorrows,
A tree or a mountain
And only thus could I cram them
Into some particular stanza.
Several very beautiful women
Held, by its four corners, the Gobi Desert,
Wanting to give me a gift.
I thanked them, deeply touched, accepting it
Though I’d been in love already.
Originally published in Cider Press Review, Volume 1.
