HILARY ELFICK

Path to Sella
for Christopher

These limestone cliffs found their form beneath the sea,
not long ago in real time. Following the contours,
we are climbing steadily in single file. I am still seeking
the hawk you promised four years ago, when I see it flap
suddenly behind your head, and scan my memory
to name it, as it beats leisurely across the valley.
Fixed on hawk, I make no space for the eagle owl
it is, my first, a prize beyond imagining. Yet still

I seek the familiar. Where are the bee-eaters
now this year? We find a scrap of honeycomb dried
in the path. Tipping it gently with my sandal,
I peer closely at its underside, patterned like snakeskin.
We stride again along the narrowing track, hungry for
each new turn beside the dwarfed pines and neglected olives
when, startled by a sudden hiss, you leap back crying
‘Christ! A snake!’ Blue-green, almost an arm-span, it holds
a moment’s shining coil until, faster than we can watch,
it flips across the path we took, and disappears.

The bee-eaters call softly now, invisible beyond the broken crest.
No honeybees that we can find. Nothing that we had come for,
except perhaps an owl I did not know was here,
and a whip-snake’s skin, shed to look like honeycomb.

Roxana-Monica Mîndrican

Hilary Elfick
 

Drumul catre Sella
pentru Cristopher

aceste stanci de calcar au fost sculptate de mare,
nu demult, intr-un timp real. Urmandu-le formele
urcam fara ezitare in sir indian. Inca mai caut
soimul de care mi-ai vorbit cu ani in urma, cand il zaresc falfaind
din senin deasupra capului tau, si incerc sa-mi aduc aminte
numele sau, in timp ce el zboara in voie deasupra vaii.
Acaparat de soim, nu acord atentie bufnitei
este primul, un premiu nesperat. Mai caut inca

lucruri familiare. Unde sunt furnicarii*
anul acesta? Gasim un rest de fagure uscat
pe drum. Lovindu-l usor cu piciorul
privesc atent modelul de pe spatele sau ca o piele de sarpe.
Mergem din nou pe poteca ingusta, tanjind dupa
fieacare cotitura pe langa pinii scunzi si maslinii uitati
cand surprins de un suierat neasteptat, sari inapoi tipand
„Dumnezeule! Un sarpe!” albastru-verzui, de lungimea unui brat,
sta un moment incolacit stralucitor, apoi fulgerator
se-avanta pe carare si dispare.

Furnicarii zumzaie incet acum, invizibili in spatele coamei stancoase.
Nu mai sunt faguri. Nimic din ce speram sa gasim,
poate numai bufnita de care nu stiam,
si o piele de sarpe, cazuta, semanand cu un fagure.

*The bee-eaters are a group of near-passerine birds in the family Meropidae. Most species are found in Africa but others occur in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies, and usually elongated central tail feathers. All are colorful and have long downturned bills and pointed wings, which give them a swallow-like appearance when seen from afar. There are 26 different species of bee-eaters.