ANNE STEWART

And the Boat upon the Water

Why do you come to me in dreams, Katerina?
In dreams of your mother dying?

Why do my sisters bustle so, with kitchen things,
so absently, forgetful of their children?

What has been lost, Katerina,
that brings such people back to me?

I sense a coming dark, my love,
as though a dark friend comes for me.

Sleep may come and dreams may come
and their reasons come no clearer.

Yet why do I hear, in those busy dreams,
the slip of a boat to water?

At home, the salmon claw, Katerina,
claw upstream, through day and night.

Come to me here and now, Katerina,
in the fireflies’ dying light.

Alina Rosu

Anne Stewart
 

Si barca pe apa
 

De ce imi apari in visuri, Katerina?
Visuri cu a ta mama tinandu-si zilele-n mana?

De ce surorile de vesela sunt preocupate,
atat de absente, uitandu-si copiii si toate?

Ce s-a pierdut intre timp, Katerina,
Incat oameni ca ei la mine vor sa revina?

Presimt apropierea intunericului, iubita mea,
de parca un prieten sumbru vine sa ma ia.

De-as avea somn si de as avea visuri,
Motivele lor raman tot tulburi.

Totusi de ce, in visarea-mi agitata,
aud lasarea unei barci la apa?

Somonii revin acasa, Katerina,
lupta contra curentului, fara odihna.

Vino la mine aici si acum, Katerina,
Unde-s doar licurici si-a lor slaba lumina.