BALLAD

by Marin Sorescu


When lovers have caught fire all over,
They take each other's hand
And throw themselves
In a wedding ring
with little water.


It is an important fall in life
And they smile happily,
And they have their hands full of flowers,
And slide lovingly,
And slide magnificently on foot,
Calling each other's name at daytime
And hearing them at night time.


For some time now,
Their day and night have been mixed
In a kind of a thick melancholy ...


The wedding ring answers
Exactly on the realm of shadows.
There is a large beach
Full of embraced bones
Which sleep their weary whiteness
Like some beautiful shells
Which have been loving each other in the sea.



(Translated from Romanian by Brigitta Daniela Buda)