Finch Poem by Rose-Marie François

I step off the train.
No one is waiting for me
I have lost my luggage
My bag has been stolen
The crowd is choking me, the town -
I will recognize a canal
lined with two rows of trees
a faded green, a faded grey,
quiet, absent, still,
empty, taut, a canvas -
The colours of our night
are fading
like stars
at break of day.
I hear a finch singing:
our winter is ending
Unless -
a rose blowing in January -
our winter never was.

English translation: Christine Pagnoulle and Phillip Sterling