CORRESPONDENCE INTERRUPTED:
if you should stop writing now:
I have sat long in cold, quiet darkness,
Lonely but unafraid,
With only my memories glowing
Like fireflies on black velvet.
Without warning, on the horizon,
Black fades to gray;
Mirage-like at first and then,
So quickly it dazzles unused eyes:
A rim, a curve of light rises
As I face you,
My unexpected sunrise.
In joy and partly superstitious fear
I leap, I dance and sing:
Bring out my beads and shells
And lay them sacrificially before you.
Warmed by your embracing rays
And the heat of fervent dancing,
I turn to see what other offerings I have
For the new light of my life.
When back I face I see the rising stopped
And, as I watch with holded breath,
You slip without a sound back down
Below the darkening horizon.
Was my dance too crude,
My heart’s drum-beat too loud?
Were my gifts too poor
The words of my song too much?
I shall sit again in the dark silence;
My eyes so dazzled now
I cannot see my glow-worm memories,
And ponder your sweet, fleet mystery.
You made me soon unused to the cold
And I shiver.
You made me a stranger to the loneliness
And I am afraid.
I wish I, too, could be lonely, but unafraid. I relished many parts of this poem, the laying out of 'sacrificial beads and shells' 'your sweet fleet mystery.' Share more.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
a wonderful theme so beautifully handled with superb expressions and resonant imagery