EUDIA Poem by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer

if to sing I
must sing from the barrel of sorrow
if to empty to bottomless refermenting
desire I have to clink the staring glass
if I have to raise despair to despair
and wet my whistle with bitter thirst
then I shall sing no more

if to drink I
must drink to heal wounds
if I must quench glassy night until bleak
morning must sour spirited breath
to intoxicate debauched senses
if blurred by cardiac eclipse I must rant
and absinth drink must drown the bitterness
then I shall drink no more

were I to drink I would drink with a cloudless song
in the style of this brightness
for transparent has and with a clear name
love begun

if I'd sing let me sing from a fragile glass
to the taste of this clearness
for from song has and with a clinking name
love begun