Poems by Gelu Vlaşin

ayla
[fragments]

translated by A.C. Clarke & Monica Tone [MTTLC student]

When I make love
Ayla hides
between fingers
the shape of
carnivorous plants
she becomes
a kind of bird
in the middle of a circle
of many colours
her midriff
is the middle of the world
from which her cries
rise to enfold me
when I make love
I feel above the world
a different sky

***
Ayla feels
that this start of the new day
is the end of the world
and the world
is a smiling orange
on which someone is tracing
the outline of a slender ankle
from a poem
by Komartin
if Ayla feels this start of the new day
as the end of the world
it means her dance
has turned into
purple ashes
that have settled
in my soul
for another
eternity

***
Ayla
is like a song
without wings
the more beautiful she grows
the higher she soars
when I listen to my song
with wings
the air rises
into the vault of the sky
and its jasmine scent
lures me
beyond the horizon
then
the horizon opens
into two worlds
and from each world
Ayla welcomes me
into her arms
which have become
two orange angels

***
When Ayla breathes
the Ayla who lives
in Ayla’s breath
makes a strange sound
like a Nepalese drum
at the start
of a mating-rite
I listen to Ayla’s breathing
and prepare
for the last initiatory dance
then the journey
to another dimension
of flight

***
Ayla doesn’t understand
my concerns
now
she sniffs
the winter’s air
and wanders
tantalizing
onto the little streets
of a medieval city
which smells of Spain
in Ayla’s sleep
unknown
brightly colored
clamorous insects
spring to life
when Ayla wakes
the insects turn into
little dancing lights
which print themselves
on the retina
forever