A Lyrical Song.Adapted from Mika Tubinshlak’s translation by Akbar Muhammad.

To Marina Vladi.

Here spruce-branches shiver, suspended in sleep,

Here birdsong is anxious and quaking.

Thou liv’st in a forest enchanted and deep,

And hast no dream of escaping.

Let the ash-berry tree set the forest ablaze,

Let the creepers embrace thee like lovers —

All the same, I will take thee away from this place

To a palace of music and flowers.

Thy world by the wizards for ages is cursed,

It’s covered from me and the sunlight.

And thou think’st that it’s the best place in the Earth,

This forest, forbidding and silent.

Let the Moon quarrel with clouds and one can’t see her face,

Let the air drip its magical potion —

All the same, I will take thee away from this place

To a tower overlooking the Ocean.

When finally I break the unbreakable charms,

And thou com’st to me out of hiding,

I will carry thee far away in my arms

To some place where they’ll never find thee.

I will steal thee if theft is what pleases thy heart,

Every path in this forest I’ve taken.

Art thou ready for Eden with me in a hut,

If the tower and the palace aren’t vacant?

Art thou ready for Eden with me in a hut,

If the tower and the palace aren’t vacant?

1970.