Richmond

Tomaž Šalamun

Translated From Slovenian by Matthew moore

Fenjadi was my guru, who I
turned up on the road.

I followed him into the wood.
He followed the woodpecker,

who followed the butterflies,
who followed a woodpecker. We

had our own glass vase each. We
took up the bark the woodpecker

tore down. Inhaled it deeply.
The sun glowed on

the river, and boats were not there.
You, is it yours, the heavenly

soil? Who said this, and to whom,
is not known. 

Fenjadi je bil moj guru, ki
sem ga odkril na cesti.

Sledil sem mu v gozd. Sledil
je žolni, najprej

metuljem, ki so ga vodili k
žolni. Imela sva vsak

svojo stekleno vazo. Probirala
lubje, ki ga je žolna

rušila. Dihala sva globoko.
Sonce je žarelo ob

reki in ni bilo čolnov.
Ti, ali imaš nebeška

tla? Kdo je to komu rekel,
ni bilo znano.