Fire in chains Poem by Branko Cvetkoski

I'm careful now
not to admire poetry aloud
like before
when discovery in a poem
was fiery enough for me
to stay up all night alone
to kept quiet in an empty field for centuries
and everything to light up and heat,
- the Universe to pronounce me its pulsar!

Trembling now
I just close the page
(and save it on two disks)
twice I return
to make sure I have locked the door
before leaving
and satisfied
and proud
and vain now
I pass my fire on to the wind
to send it far away
lest a cathartic reversal
should happen
between the text cooling upon the cold soil
and the hand rising from the empty paper

lest I should be chained in rings again
while gazing
from which side of the world to return home

Translated by: Vladimir Cvetkoski