Poem Written on a Rainy Day about Garden Shears

On the table white as the sea wall
In de Chirico’s painting
The poetry notebook and “Homilies on Repentance”
By St. John of the Cross.
Next to them the garden shears
With arms yellowish
Like two candles,
The steel coil
Unquestionable.

And last, the shears’ blades
That trim all illusions,
All sins.
All the way to the bluish skin
Caressed only by angels.

Translated from the Romanian by Mihaela Moscaliuc and Michael Waters

© Liliana Ursu

Liliana Ursu was born in Sibiu, Romania, and lives in Bucharest where she has worked for Romanian National Radio since 1980. Her books in English include Lightwall (Zephyr Press, 2009)Goldsmith Market (Zephyr Press, 2003), both translated by Sean Cotter, The Sky Behind the Forest (Bloodaxe Books, 1997), translated by the poet with Adam J. Sorkin and Tess Gallagher, and Angel Riding a Beast (Northwestern UP, 1998), translated by the poet and Bruce Weigl.