THE POLAR WORD OF BEGINNING
Like always before Easter
words were taken down from the walls:
carpets, icons, our marriage picture and the flask.
’’Everything has to be limewashed’’,
howled the white rectangle where the carpet had been.
’’Somebody has to limewash everything’’
answered the other rectangle too, where the picture had been.
’’Limewashing has to be everywhere’’
whispered in a sigh the coolness of the icon, too.
Then limewashing house painter came in
holding the lime brush in his right hand
and the moon sickle in his left hand:
’’Limewash your echoes’’ he told me.
’’Time is against us and it will take an eternity
to me to limewash the shadow
of the polar word of beginning.
Dumitru Ichim
English version by
Muguras Maria Petrescu
