NOTE ON THE POEM FOR SAD WALK
During the week around the solstice, I was on the small island of Vilsandi (the westernmost point of Estonia in the Baltic Sea). It is quite deserted nowadays, except in summertime. I walked around the seashore and in the woods and finally wrote my response to Bob Zieff's "Sad Walk.”
Käisin mere ääres, aga tuul
oli liiga tugev. Lesisin
lamedal kivil.
Tiirud vastu tuult. Lehed
käivad laperdades tagurpidi.
Soe kampsun.
Eile tulin tagasi läbi poolkadariku,
loojangu kuivade mändide vahel
sirelaste tants.
Nad ripuvad õhus ühel kohal,
põhja-lõuna suunaliselt, pinisedes nagu
kõrgepingeliin.
Mõtlesin, et see on kõrgepingeliin.
Aga tiivulised läbipaistvad kehad
pikkadel tiibadel,
nägin seda, õhus loodud mustrit
kolmel või neljal tasapinnal
püstloodis. Peaaegu püstloodis.
Siis äkki segadus, sumin, kokku-
põrked, hetkeks moodustub õhus
ebamäärane sissepoole suunatud pundar,
kuni äkki taastub tasakaal. Samal
pinnal, samades punktides, samas
rütmis, vahetatud kohtadega.
Liikumatu tants õhus. Päike
viltu seda lõikamas mändide vahel,
nagu püstkoja suitsuviirge.
Vaatasin kümme minutit. Läksin
siis edasi, tagasi tulles
kohta enam ei leidnud.
I went down to the seashore, but the wind
was too strong. I lay flat
on a rock.
Sea swallows versus the wind. Pages
skitter backwards.
A warm sweater.
Yesterday I returned through a juniper grove
between the dry sunset pines,
the dance of syrphus flies.
They hung in the air in one place,
angled north to south, humming
like high-voltage power lines.
I thought the sound was high-voltage power lines.
Then I saw the transparent bodies
on long elliptical wings
creating a pattern in the air
on three or four vertical planes.
Nearly vertical.
Then a burst of confusion, buzzing, col-
lisions, for a split second an indistinct bundle
formed in midair, directed inward
until suddenly, balance restored. On the same
planes, at the same points, with the same
rhythm, having changed places.
A motionless dance in the air. Dissected
diagonally by sunlight from between the pines,
like veins of smoke through a teepee.
I watched for ten minutes. Then I
moved on, came back later
but never found the place.
(Translated by Brandon Lussier)
