In the silent mornings or in the silent nights
there is a hunch there is a thigh there is a panther
I try to catch your shoulders using a violin
as a butterfly net
but if your hair chimes it's because it's dreaming
if your eyelid blossoms it's because of the wind
if your hand howls it's because it's night
if your ears sleep it's because they're famished
if your shoes laugh it's because they're thinking
and if your shoulders take flight it's because it's very late
If your hand falls silent it's because it's a seashell
if your veins race it's because of the mandrake
if the thigh listens it's because there are still leaves
if the blood foams it's the fault of the umbrellas
If your frock screams it's because it's dying
if your shadow flickers it's because it's burning
if your fingernail sits on the curtains it's because they're violet
if your foot whinnies it's because of the clouds
if the lungs fall asleep it's because it's dark
and if your shoulders choke
it is assuredly because of the trees.
Gellu Naum, Vasco da Gama and other pohems, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 2007
"Gellu Naum (1915-2001) may be said to have been the last of the Surrealists in the proper sense of the world. He was the last living link to that revolution of the human spirit which first defined itself in Andre Breton's Manifeste du surrealisme of 1924. " Alistair Blyth
I posted two of Naum's poems because I like the freshness and freedom of his associations and poetical images. I like the unexpected of his verse and its dream-like quality.