George Szirtes - Body Songs

1.Back

Slipping his hand down her back he felt her heat,
As creaturely as his own but far better. Her head
Was cool to the touch. Where did they meet,
These two conditions? What was mid-point here?
It was where the nature of creatureliness resided,
Half way between acute desire and fear.

2.Skull

You feel the bones of the face. It is like weeping.
Do animals weep? She seemed to be buoyed
On an enormous reservoir of tears. Her sleeping
Contained time in a cupping of hands,
A time that was to be lamented but enjoyed
In environments of working cells and glands.

3.Leg

Your leg, it seems nothing. Your eyes count
For little. Your organs are obscure, your limbs
Anonymous. Your bodily fluids don’t amount
To a hill of beans, but you are lost in awe
Of the poor rags that live in your dreams
Where desire is king and obeys no law.

4.Neck

The delicate architecture of the neck demands
Study. One needs a certain scholarly devotion
To appreciate its fragility refined into bands
Of necklace, light, and shadow. The very notion
Of its existence has a faintly oriental
Exotic flavour that is not merely accidental.

5.Skin

Skin is enough to send a rhyme-scheme skew-whiff.
Could one but fix a voltmeter to the small bones
Of the wrist it would read off the scale. It is as if
There were convulsions in the circuit. The soles
Of the feet are mother-boards for the stones
We must rush across as if they were hot coals.

6.Heart

What is it burns us up? Let me feel your temple.
Is it your heart, my small and wonderful source
Of delight? My own organ is a poor example
Of the organ maker’s art. My chest wheezes
With its burden, my blood stutters along its course,
My genes whisper lamentable inherited diseases.

7.Aging

The dynamics of aging: a gust of wind
On the surface of the pond. What creatures
Live down there? Deep down perhaps, blind
Animalculae are gathering beneath a rock
Among flamboyant fish with macabre features
Registering various states of shock.

8.Waist

Slenderest. The point at which you break
Into two is where I most like to hold
You together. It is there I feel the ache
Of your otherness, before you expand
Above and below into that blithe controlled
Delight that makes my own flesh stretch and stand.

9.Belly

The dome of the world. Its peculiar swelling
Presents a purely lascivious curve
At tension with itself, smelling
Vaguely of perfume and earth. It is
The last of the good times, the reserve
Of the well fed once gorged on vanities.

10.Hand

Almost another independent being
Stuck to your wrist. I hold it as it grows
Flowers and closes on whatever it’s carrying.
I have wandered down its alleyways
From which everything else follows
That finger points to and palm weighs.

George Szirtes - Cantecele trupului

1 Spatele

Strecurandu-si mana in jos, pe spatele ei, ii simti caldura
De creatura, ca si a lui, dar mult mai de soi. Capul
Ramase rece în fata atingerii. Unde s-or fi întalnit
Aceste două conditii? Care sa fi fost punctul comun?
Era acolo unde insasi natura creatiei isi afla salas
La jumatatea drumului dintre dorinta aprinsa si teama.

2 Teasta

Simti oasele fetei. E ca atunci cand plangi.
Oare animalele plang? Se simtea priponita de o geamandura
Pe un enorm rezervor de lacrimi. Somnul ei
Continea timpul în palme facute caus,
Un timp ce o sa fie deplans si nu savurat
In medii cu celule functionale si glande.

3 Piciorul

Piciorul tau, pare neinsemnat. Ochii tai
nu contează prea mult. Organele iti sunt
intunecate, membrele
Anonime. Fluidele corpului tau nu se ridica
Nici pana la piciorul broastei, dar tu esti pierduta în veneratia
Bietilor zdrentarosi care traiesc in visele tale
Unde legi nu sunt si domneste dorinta.

4 Gatul

Arhitectura delicata a gatului cere
Studiu atent. E nevoie de un anume devotament erudit
Pentru a-i putea aprecia fragilitatea rafinata in
panglici
De colier, de umbra si lumina. Chiar ideea
Existentei lui are o aroma vag orientala
Exotica, ce nu e pur întamplatoare.

5. Pielea

Pielea e de ajuns pentru a trimite deindată un
tipar de rime.
Numai de ar potrivi cineva un voltmetru pe oasele mici
Ale incheieturii ca sa citeasca scala. E ca si cum
In circuit ar fi spasme. Talpile
Picioarelor sunt placi de bază pentru pietre
Trebuie să traversam in graba ca si cum ele ar fi
carbuni incinsi.

6 Inima

Ce ne aprinde? Lasa-ma sa-ti simt tampla.
E inima ta, mica si minunata mea sursa
De desfatare? Propriul meu organ e un biet exemplu
Al artei fauritorului de organe. Pieptul imi gafaie
Sub povara sa, sangele mi se impiedica pe drum,
Genele mele soptesc jalnice boli mostenite.

7 Imbatranitul

Dinamica imbatranitului: o rafală de vant
Pe suprafata lacului. Ce creaturi
Traiesc in adancuri? Acolo, foarte adanc, probabil,
fosile
Oarbe se aduna sub o stanca
Printre pesti viu colorati cu trasaturi macabre
Care inregistreaza felurite grade de soc.

8 Talia

Cea mai subtire. Locul in care te frangi in două
E acolo unde imi place cel mai mult
Sa va tin laolaltă. Exact acolo simt durerea
Diferentelor tale, inainte ca tu sa te largeşti
Deasupra si dedesubt in acel extaz vesel si
Controlat care-mi intinde si-mi aseaza propria carne.

9 Pantecul

Cupola lumii. Umflatura sa specifica
Infatiseaza o arcuire pur lasciva
Incordata in ea insasi, mirosind vag
A parfum si tarană. Este ultima parte
A vremurilor bune, rezerva
Celui bine hranit, imbuibat candva cu orgolii.

10 Mana

Aproape inca o fiinta de sine statatoare
Prinsa de incheietura ta. O tin in vreme ce creste
Flori si se strange in jurul oricarui lucru pe care-l
duce.
I-am cutreierat aleile
De unde toate celelalte urmaresc
Ceea ce degetul arata si palma cantareste.

Translated by Stefania Tarcomnicu