Tomas Venclova - * *

in the fire in the fire in the fire in the fire in the fire
where space pulls over to the side and yields to time
cross out my soul make the not me in me expire
that the exalted nothing tasting peace may become
a spark a speck a line and a breach in the fire
in water in water in water in water in water
beneath the cupola filled with echo and ice
today you protect me and hand me out to others
may I not return home don’t see me don’t break my disguise
where eight bridges sway in the piercing cold in the water
underground underground underground underground underground
where the stone falls apart and the soundless stream stays together
where the winter matures and no colour in green can be found
the body retreats into ash and ash into never
and from never to never the void flows under the ground
in the dark in the dark in the dark in the dark in the dark
our matter becomes dispersed and our air grows slack
all things are ready for death when the syllable sparks
and pressed into fictional paper the letters grow black
in this darkness here in this blindness here in this dark
en_GBEN