10.
At the
hour when dreams come true,
at the
first sweet glimmer of dawn,
I saw
lips that opened
leaf by
leaf.
A slim
sickle shone in the sky.
I feared
it would mow them down.
from
“Summer Solstice,” part three of Three
Secret Poems,
translated by Walter Kaiser.
*
The
Jasmine
Whether it
gets dark
or light
the jasmine
stays
always
white.
Translated
by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard.
NB: Some down-to-earth observers of the heavens will note that the sickle framed in jasmine is setting in the west and not rising in the east but that shouldn't distract them from noticing the celestialness of these two pieces.
