The clear pain, the death has brought me back,
Submitted to your arms, almost a child.
You don’t know whether to be thankful
Or to cry
For such happiness,
Mother.
My body, stripped of the mystery
Is yours alone.
Sweet your tears drip onto my shoulder
And gather obediently near the blade.
How good it is!
The pilgrimage and words never to be understood,
The disciples, of whom you’re proud, of whom you are afraid,
The [Creator], the assumed, the unspoken, watching,
All is behind.
Calmed by the understood suffering
You hold me in your arms
And stealthily
You rock me, gently,
Rock me, Mama.
Three days only, I’m allowed to rest
In death and on your lap.
Then the resurrection will come
And again you are not meant to understand.
Three days only
But until then
I feel so good
On your lap, descended from the cross,
If I wasn’t afraid you’d find it terrifying,
Gently I’d turn toward you
To your face, smiling.
Ana Blandiana, pseudonym of Otilia Valeria Coman Rusan (born March 25, 1942 , Timișoara, Romania), is one of Romania’s foremost poets. ‘Ana was a leading dissident before the fall of Communism, …she became known for her daring, outspoken poems as well as for her courageous defence of ethical values. Over the years, her works have become the symbol of an ethical consciousness that refuses to be silenced by a totalitarian government.’ Read more here.
-
- Photo by Ben Ulrich
