Egon Schiele, 1890 – 1918

LIKE A BOAT ON A LAKE . . .

THE AFTERNOON slowly passed by
like a boat on a lake of still waters,
on your chest the violets trembled
caressed by a burning breath.

There I murmured to you, near the fountain,

in the park that keeps secret yearnings,

“I am like the miner who respectfully longs
for the veins of your tender affection . . .”

And the peace of the branches was disrupted,
and when you so softly said, “I adore you!”
a fluttering of wings was heard over the gold

of your timid and fervent head,
that anchored that evening, and the night
suddenly stretched out its unfurled wing.

Xavier Villaurrutia, Mexico, 1903 ─ 1050

ΒΑΡΚΑ ΣΤΗ ΛΙΜΝΗ

Ήρεμα πέρασε τ’ απόγευμα

σαν βάρκα σε λίμνης τ’ ακίνητα νερά

βιολέτες έκαιγαν στο στήθος σου

χαϊδεμένο απ’ την καυτή ανάσα

Τότε σου ψιθύρισα, δίπλα στο συντριβάνι

στο πάρκο που φυλάσει τις μυστικές επιθυμίες,

είμαι σαν μιναδόρος που πεθυμά

τη φλέβα της τρυφερής σου αγάπης

Κι η ηρεμία των κλαδιών ταράχτηκε

κι όταν μουρμούρισες το «σε λατρεύω»

πέταγμα φτερών ακούστηκε πάνω απ’τη χρυσή,

δειλή και κι ολόφλογη σου κεφαλή

που έδεσε το δείλι, κι η νύχτα ξαφνικά

ξεδίπλωσε την διπλωμένη της φτερούγα

Μετάφραση Μανώλη Αλυγιζάκη//Translated by Manolis Aligizakis Xavier Villaurrutia, Mexico, 1903 ─ 1950

The Mood of a Day
We plainly saw that not a soul lived in that fated vessel!
•
EDGAR ALLAN POE
The mood of a day we lived ten years ago in a foreign
land
the ether of an ancient moment that grew wings and flew
away like the Lord’s angel
the voice of a woman forgotten with so much prudence
and so much pain
an inconsolable end, a September setting made
of marble.
New houses dusty clinics eruptive windows
coffin maker’s shops…
Has anyone thought of what the sensitive drug store owner endures
on duty all night long?
The room is in a mesh: drawers windows doors with
gaping mouths like wild animals
a pissed off man reads the cards, searches, reads the stars,
seeks.
He worries: if they knock at the door who will open it?
If he opens a book whom is he to look at? If he opens
his soul who will look? Chain
Where is love that with a single stroke cuts time in two
and dumbs it?
Only words and gestures. An unvarying monologue
before a mirror under a wrinkle
The boredom spreads like an ink mark on a handkerchief
They all died in the ship, but the ship follows the route
it started from the harbor.
How the captain’s nails grew…and the boatswain who had
three girlfriends in every port unshaven.
The sea swells slowly, the riggings fill with pride and
the day becomes mild.
Three dolphins appearing black, shine, the mermaid smiles
and a forgotten seaman riding the yardarm waves.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096TTS37J

Excerpt

Chapter Six
With Christmas only three weeks away, every student nurse at the
Holy Cross waited impatiently to find out what hours she would be
working over the holidays. A few would have enough days off to go
home, even if they lived some distance away. Others would be on
duty throughout the season.
Tyne hoped for three days off to make it worthwhile to take the bus
home to Emblem. Morley had offered to come to Calgary to get her,
but she did not think he should leave his farm and the livestock. His
father had not been well, and Morley had more than enough to do
with his own farm and his daily trips to look after his parents’ place.
Tyne had not been home for Christmas since beginning her nurses’
training. In many ways she did not mind. She counted it a blessing
to be able to make the day as pleasant as possible for her patients
although at times she found it heartrending, especially on the children’s
ward. But the Christmas she had spent on Maternity was one
she would never forget. The joy of the new mothers made her own
heart joyful, and in each little occupant of the nursery she saw the
baby Jesus.
Even if she could not get home to Emblem, Tyne would have a
Christmas dinner. Moe’s parents were coming from Lethbridge to
spend the holidays with Moe’s older, married sister. The sister had
promised to plan her dinner around whatever hours the two nurses
were off duty, providing they worked the same shift.
Tyne was surprised not to have received an invitation from the
Shaughnessys as she had for the previous two years. They had not
invited her or Moe to their home since Carol Ann left the hospital

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763068