Esther Tellermann
translations by Michael Sohn
from Sous votre nom [Under your name]
Under the rocks
water became
crystal
pain
agate
and you became
intaglio
I know
I had wanted
to gather you
to not let befall
the blind
flesh
like open vein.
*
It is true
I wanted
to exhaust my ash
or perhaps
a nostalgia
of forests
of silences
where burrow
the dead the voices
separate.
Here we are
narrowed in
the blue
where sinks
what
sings.
*
Perhaps
he had lent you
the double
of a morning?
Other ways of
drinking the light?
Swarms of numbers
there where
I was sleeping
raised
the moons
inside of
the sun.
*
I had
need
I hadn’t
dedicated
anything.
What had I known of
the shadow
of the earth?
Armfuls of corollas
of veils and of
doors and
each trace
measurable
something still
ignites
duration.
*
What does it matter time
has whitened the cherry
it isn’t snuffed out
look
from all sides
the word was coming
that cradles me and
wakes me and names
me.
Click here for the original French.
