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.