[Do you hear the shallow breaths?] Poem by Maya Sarishvili

Do you hear the shallow breaths?
Here, my room possesses the night
—as a maid—
from growing old, being unable to manage
to ghosts bred in torment,
in-your-face laughter can't be held back—
the curtains, too, can bear no more light
entering from windows—
sleep, caught by
sharp neon beams—
the glimmering ads
charming blood from words,
with letters that pity me—dumb slaves
lined up and made to scream till dawn.
The full milk glass is wrapped in black cotton.
Everything that doesn't break—even the address book
is wrapped in black cotton—
and there, in the alphabet's impractical manner,
my invented friends are waving goodbye.

Translated by Timothy Kercher and Nene Giorgadze