Autumn Song

                              I

Soon we shall plunge into the shadowy cold.
Goodbye to our short summer’s dying light!
Listen, the firewood’s come: each dismal thud
echoes off the paving stones of the court.

All winter will sweep into me, a swell
of fury, fear, horror and leaden work;
like a second sun crossing its polar hell,
my heart will be just a red frozen block.

I flinch as every log hits stone. It’s the sound
of a scaffold going up. All I am
falters like a tower giving ground
under the tireless blows of a battering ram.

I’m lulled by these monotonous shocks; you’d swear
they’re building a coffin for someone, nail by nail.
—Yesterday it was summer, now autumn’s here!
This mysterious noise tolls farewell.

                             II

I love the greenish light of your long eyes
but everything today tastes bitter to me,
and nothing, neither love nor home, outweighs
the radiant sun glittering over the sea.

Do care for me in spite of that, dear heart,
as a mother loves her…