cobalt

for Alexandra

the sun is cobalt when it rises from the body and shines

above the reefs

and my weathered brain on which unknown birds

alight is cobalt

the resistance to compromise and apathy

always has been cobalt

and the nocturnal fear I wanted to

beat as if it were a stubborn animal

is cobalt

the hand I’m writing with on a increasingly distant screen

is cobalt

and my stretched compact muscles sweating

with joy and anxiety face to face with love

are cobalt

and the faint refined tremor that poetry

still awakens in me

is cobalt

a mother’s slow forgiveness is cobalt

the leaf fallen on the sheen of the water

in which a friend dreamed of finding his calm

is cobalt

the need for you was and is still

cobalt

and the old innocence of the poets who transcribed

appeasing verses that I cannot get

out of my mind

is cobalt

there are worlds with tiny skies and

these are happy worlds

in which memory is hope

and before all else wounds are healed

there are worlds in which no-one sells anyone else

and the presentiment of this

is cobalt

and when we speak to each other of love again

don’t believe a word of it

my cobalt eyes will reveal

to you

everything on

that day.

translated by Stephen Watts & Claudiu Komartin