Tuesday Poem: " Excerpt from Summers and Springs" by Jaan Kaplinski

 

God has left us - I felt it clearly
digging the earth around a rhubarb plant.
It was black and moist. I don't know where he is,
only a shelf full of sacred books remains of him,
a couple of wax candles, a prayer wheel and a little bell.
Coming back to the house I thought
there might still be something - the smell of lilac and honeysuckle.
Then suddenly I imagined a child's face
there, on the other side, in eternity
looking here into time, regarding wide-eyed
our comings, goings and doings in this time-aquarium
under the light of the sun going down
and falling asleep under a water-lily leaf
somewhere far away in the west.

Jaan Kaplinski (translated from the Estonian by Jaan Kaplinski with Fiona Sampson)

For more information about the poet, Jan Kaplinski, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaan_Kaplinski