Gellu Naum, Fox Hunt

On my limping horse I was going to the fox-hunt

I knew one an elegant one with a veil across her face

she was wearing her own fur over her shoulders

she was a yellow reddish wraith

running between the start & the end across a pale green meadow

back then when nature was much in evidence

I was going to her lair; was shouting from outside

“here is my limping horse with pale green hair          

he entered in through your window & is lounging on your bed

I can hear him laughing from outside if I catch him I’ll kill him

right in front of you I’ll kill him

I can hear him neighing & you are pampering him & giving him cinnamon

& he will dirty your bed with his black horse shit                  

I know you’re a good girl bring him out so I can kill him

afterwards we’ll go out on the town, it’ll be on me              

know that I am your friend from childhood know that we stayed together

                                  for a long time in a room in the woods

from there we could see deep into the fabric of nature

into a space emptied of syntax

know that I loved you & had tears in my eyes

that I wore a veil so no-one would notice”

I was standing in front of the lair shouting in from outside

“know that I am your friend from childhood

let me introduce myself, I am lieutenant Varlam

Agathodaimon in the market buying salt & bread

know that I came with my shotgun to hunt you

& my limping horse got inside your lair through the window

have him come out just for a moment so I can kill him

& then come out with me on the town, treat’s on me”

then I opened the door & went in the lair                                  

it was damp there & cold & dark, with no fire

& the species continued to proliferate           

                                                           (October 1986, room 3 003) 

Translated from the Romanian by

Stephen Watts & Claudiu Komartin