UNTIMELY LEAVING

Giacomo Manzù

UNTIMELY LEAVING

When a sun
which knows no more dawn

dies away
in its own light,
and the night
blots out its stars,
snaps the stem,
tears the leaf.

***

BORROWED DAWN

With its hand of shadow and darkness
unraveled the evening,
the defenseless light
unraveled the future,
the magic,
the borrowed dawn,
pulled out of the wick,
shed the oil,
extinguished time.

GERMAIN DROOGENBROODT

Translation by Stanley Barkan in cooperation with the author