Secrets

SECRETS

I cannot tell you about my secrets
as my secrets are still ripening inside me
(Mei Er, contemporary Chinese poet)

I cannot tell you my secrets.
My secrets are seeds of fennel
locked up in their humus prison
but dreaming to germinate.
My secrets are caterpillars

gently asleep inside the warmth of the cocoon
but dreaming to become butterflies
I cannot reveal to you my shady secrets.
They would make you blush like a schoolgirl.

They would make you tremble like a willow at the first breeze.

No, let my secrets ripen inside me.
Let them explode to life,
and, maybe if you are patient,
one day I will talk to you about them.

GEORGES FRIEDENKRAFT, FRANCE
Translation Wan Hua Chapouthier –Stanley Barkan