APHORISMS
Words fall into silence
Silence falls upwards
Up where does it fall?
Heaven – wastebasket of our dreams.
Lovers never forgive each other for the beautiful time they spent together.
What's the sun writing on my back?
I can't read it.
The victory of love:
Two vanquished.
Every word has its own past.
But we only discover that years later,
when we too have ours.
Night, by your drawn blind deeper.
Committed to the mercy of the blind middle way,
We give ourselves life sentences day by day.
In sorrow heaven
is often our only ally.
"There's something I'll never forgive you. Yourself!"
"Hold on, I'm changing into my birthday suit!"
Whatever it is that we both lack,,
together we'll find it awfully fast...
I quaffed the alcohol of dreams...
The bottle is empty...I live in a dry-out world...
Beautiful is... the secret
smile of God. At.
The fact that. It
worked.
It's charming
when two drink from one cup.
And terribly sad
when one drinks out of two.
Translated by John Minahane
From the collection In Blind Alleys (V slepých uličkách), IKAR, 1999
* * *
They say a lie has short legs.
But how quick they are!
Lips pursed for a kiss
gather for a moment
all the wrinkles of love.
At the end of a movie
the hero
leaves
for the infinity of credits.
When you edit your life,
you find out
that it wasn't really that much yours.
It belonged more to those who accidentally
passed by.
We feel that we somehow remember
images that we have never seen before.
Could it be that our memory
came to this world before us?
Chimney-sweep with white wings
that's what one looks like
when delivering real happiness.
More times than black cats
have I crossed the road
by myself.
Camera takes pictures of the present
and will never understand
that it is merely recording the past.
It really does matter
whether it is the audience or the nation who applauds you.
At midnight sharp
there is a brief moment
when yesterday is also tomorrow
at the same time.
Translated by Peter Petro