she has always been much closer
than my palms, my fingerprints.
my prints leave a dam, a stony wail of my being outside in the matter,
but she leaves this dam inside me,
this stony wail, like a secret killing,
she has left her fingerprints everywhere in me.
she is inside of me and I am outside of her, all around her,
the walls, the garden,
the unmistakable halo of the town, the photon crowns
of houses. I am all around her,
outside, one of her fingerprints,
the fingerprint of this dam, this stony wail in the matter.

Ion Mircea, from My Cup of Light
translated by Lidia Vianu and Anne Stewart

If we do not inhabit our verses,
what is the use of writing?

Eminescu, Rilke, Byron and Mandelstam
succeeded.

Grapes squeezed in a timepress.

If we are not alive in our images
what remains of poets?

Dew and ink,
Labour, symmetries?

Blood is the only colour
That can’t be erased from a book.

Adrian Popescu, from My Cup of Light
translated by Lidia Vianu and Anne Stewart

body...
it hurts
and I can't do it anymore.

But its okay... just sometimes,
No. I can't.

"Can't what!!?"_ you shriek

Everything:
Its painful to get dressed,
coming out from the curled, soft, blankets
it hurts
my head, eyes, and  body
I can't explain why or how.
I can't explain my self
not anymore.

I can't be fake
anymore
talking **** all the time.
I can't hide these feelings.

I'm scared.
not knowing where I am
blinded of where I'm going,
doing my best to cover all this chaotic mess
with a smile,
the smile everyone exclaims they love so dearly.
A smile just to get me out the door and through the day.
And Why
And  How
!!!
How do these **** Lovely Beings see all this good,
all this beauty, hope and fragile kindness..
all this peace and passion.
How..!
can they see all this, behind that smile..
Telling me these sweet gentle words,
words I truly try to believe in!
words I forget to believe in
words that I find so hard to see,
all these wonders
people talk of.
I get so lost in myself,
trying to find these wonderful sweet words
of calm seas, and humble peace
those words,
people exclaim to me.

But its Hard
and most days..
I just can't.

So I'm sorry if I get down and all shades of blue,
of lost
and scared.

But these horrible words:
'I can't'
Have Haunted me since forever.
those terrible two
words..
spinning around in my miserable, lost, mind.

Causing my body to hurt so
with all these sleepless nights.

But its Okay!
No worries

its Just...
at times it hurts so
that I look in the mirror and see
lost, tired, scared, sad, eyes
staring so freighted back at me.

Asking why, I could possibly hurt so..

But for now.
Sorry, my lovelies
that I hurt so

Maybe someday,
I will truly believe in calm seas and shining peace
with radiant skin
shinning with blinding passion.