Still with Us

All these billions of people

Who lived and died

Since there was a beginning

For living and dying

They are still with us

On this tiny planet

A luminous speck of dust

In a cold, endless cosmic pit

Nobody left the planet

They only moved

In other shapes

In other forms

Shakespeare

And Napoleon

And Einstein

And my grandfather

Are all now

A tree

A leaf

A sandy strip on the beach

A gust of wind

The tail of a cloud

A couple of hairs on your head

Nobody ever left the planet

Or vanished

Into the cold, endless cosmic pit

They are all with us

Sailing together

The quiet waves of time

Eternity

I am the only one left

Who knows the name of a fish merchant

Who sold fish for a living

In a Bucharest market

Almost one hundred years ago,

So much for eternity…

His name was Marin

And I never saw his face

And I never smelled his sweat

Or touched his body,

So much for eternity…

I only know that he caught fish

For a living

And he had children

And he had a wife

And many times he doubted God

So he must have known

What love is

What pain is

What life is

I am the only one left

Who knows that Marin died

In his sleep

Because of a weak heart

And when they buried him

The priest promised

Remembrance forever,

So much for eternity…

I am the only one left

Who knows that Marin

Has never known his grandchild

And stroked his hair

And patted his back

And said: I’ll show you how to catch fish

Because I am that grandchild

And he was my grandfather

And I never saw his face

And I never smelled his sweat

Or touched his body,

So much for eternity…

Incomparable Wonders

She wants me to go to China

And Egypt

And Italy

To see what is left

After the history streamed down

Like a stormy river

Into the cosmic nothingness

Of the stone

She wants me to go

To the beginnings and the ends of the planet

To see the wonders of the world

When the wonders are a few blocks away

The trees in the ravine,

Or a few meters away

The leaves of grass in the back of my house

Made from the cosmic nothingness

Of the stone

And sometimes the wonders

Barge into my home

Noisily, annoyingly, detestably

Like that fly on the ceiling

With the structure of its wings

More complex than one thousand pyramids

What do I say?

One million pyramids

One trillion pyramids

The black hole

Of incomparable wonders

The wings of that fly

Hide the genius of something

Or somebody

The people call The Creator

When they run out

Of logical explanations

Or they had enough of being wrong
Constantly wrong

What do I say?

One million geniuses

One trillion geniuses

The black hole

Of incomparable wonders