IRINA Poem by Claudiu Komartin

I remember a brick house
and a long alley descending toward a courtyard in shadow
where in August the unmown grass stood high,
up to my knees. I can see Irina's body stretched out there,
among the thistles, the small insects, the boxwoods - and the world
slowing to the rhythm of the rise and fall

of her chest, until full abandonment of the self. An ecstatic smile.
I keep in my mind her thin ankle (a little reddened where
the strap of her sandal rubbed)
and her white thigh, all but singing, stirred
by a gust of wind out of nowhere.
Nearly two years have gone by.

It's summer again, an overwhelming season
that dictates even my least movement.
In the meantime her body has filled out,
she now wears her hair longer
(they tell me) and the fury, oh well, my fury has diminished,
distilled by so many things, so many words.

I'm a lonely, polite man
imagining more and more often
a brick house
and a long alley
descending toward a cold place in shadow,
to which there's no return.