BRIAN PATTEN

When you wake tomorrow

I will give you a poem when you wake tomorrow.
It will be a peaceful poem.
It won’t make you sad.
It won’t make you miserable.
It will simply be a poem to give you
When you wake tomorrow.

It was not written by myself alone.
I cannot lay claim to it.
I found it in your body.
In your smile I found it.
Will you recognise it?

You will find it under your pillow.
When you open the cupboard it will be there.
You will blink in astonishment,
Shout out, ‘How it trembles!
Its nakedness is startling! How fresh it tastes!’

We will have it for breakfast;
On a table lit by loving,
At a place reserved for wonder.
We will give the world a kissing open
When we wake tomorrow.

We will offer it to the sad landlord out on the balcony.
To the dreamers at the window.
To the hand waving for no particular reason
We will offer it.
An amazing and most remarkable thing,
We will offer it to the whole human race
Which walks in us
When we wake tomorrow.

Ruxandra Georgescu

Brian Patten
 

Cand te vei trezi maine
 

Iti voi darui o poezie cand te vei trezi maine
Va fi o poezie pasnica.
Nu te va intrista.
Nu te va amari.
Va fi pur si simplu o poezie daruita tie
Cand te vei trezi maine.

Nu a fost scrisa doar de mine.
Nu o pot revendica in intregime.
Am gasit-o in trupul tau.
Sau in zambetul tau.
O vei recunoaste oare?

O vei gasi sub perna ta.
Va fi acolo cand deschizi dulapul.
Vei clipi de uimire,
Si vei striga „Cum tremura!
Goliciunea ei e miscatoare! Ce gust proaspat!”

O vom citi la micul dejun;
Pe o masa luminata de iubire,
Intr-un loc rezervat pentru mirare.
Vom darui lumii un sarut de intampinare
Cand ne vom trezi maine.

O vom darui proprietarului trist de la balcon,
Sau visatorilor de la fereastra.
Sau mainii ce flutura fara vreun motiv
O vom oferi.
Ca un lucru uimitor si remarcabil,
O vom oferi intregii rase umane
Ce ne va surprinde
Cand ne vom trezi maine.