so here I am, coming to you
find for me a place on wings of soft winds
let water’s sparkling sounds flow beside us,
let laurels entwine our flanks . . .
let me wake on mornings in the softness of your iron arms
as a seed grows in the eyes of an olive tree
let me be yours

let the scent of the gum tree infuse our hair
let our living body walk towards birds
and find forgotten songs . . .
your smile is the branches of a flowering almond tree
let it snatch death from our hands.

I brought a ship to your door: let’s go together.
you were made for women of sensitive, long nights,
for long mornings
for fields of wheat, placid deer, for open roads . . .
drop me on your chest: let me listen to songs of the world
if we’re late, the quiet river of love will leave us—sulking—
and never come back again.

translated by George Messo