Eil bugaleaj

SECOND CHILDHOOD

 

to Ivona Martin

 

In the mill of time I have ground

The shreds of my youth

All the scraps of my beauty,

The remnants of my dreams.

Caprices, reveries.

And pain and sadness.

I've steeped them all

In sweat and tears

And baked the dough

In my heart's hot fire.

Made sheets of them,

That I'll iron to give a high sheen

With the iron of my ardor.

And on them, I will write,

In the colors of my thoughts, Wild fantasies

Of my second childhood,

In the magical language of my race.

 

August 1963.