Ritsos & Dickinson

Breath

For no reason a refreshing breath entered through the window like a suspended brook;
you felt it only from the slant of the flame of four candles,
and the shadows of the light quivered on the face of the dead man
as if to lick death off and remove it from him.
All at once, this breath imposed the springtime on you,
and the flames of the candles became four golden wheels
on a large, light carriage going with the speed of lightning
perhaps heavily laden with flowers and women. Indeed, it was even on the verge
of dismembering the corpse. But the corpse half-opened his eyes
and with caution and prudence stepped aside. The carriage went by.

— Yannis Ritsos, The Fourth Dimension, trans Rae Dalven (David R. Godine, 1977)

__________

I give you this poem because it is the one to which I opened the book, first thing this morning, first day of spring.

But the mood is dark for a day of rebirth so I’ll give you this small ditty from Emily Dickinson for a pallet cleanser:

___________

XXXVIII

A LITTLE madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King,
But God be with the Clown,
Who ponders this tremendous scene�
This whole experiment of green,
As if it were his own!

— Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Boston: Little, Brown, 1924; Bartleby.com, 2000

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