Jüri Talvet Poems

The passport lost — long live liberty!
A frown fell from your face,
the stamp's stern shield suddenly gave way,
and having shrugged from your shoulders twenty years
...

Waiting for reward, we decay into age.
It would have been better to pasture sheep,
to shelter under a tree while it rains
and listen to the fulminations of God,
...

We depart. Farewell and abrazos
remain hovering like a frightened handkerchief in the wind.
Lightness, smell of seaweed over a blue abyss.
Something warm, like a sleeping child in you,
...

The carousel had horses
and we ourselves pushed it
around under the pavilion.
(Was Carousel the name of your childhood street
...

Cars rush across the bridge
golden glint of glass at one point
the only more certain sign of existence
a woman hurrying alone on the sidewalk
...