These two short poems were written in Tartu over the course of the first year of my masters. They reflect two different points of conversion, changes of heart, so to speak; one at the beginning of the winter, the other one at the beginning of spring, but they have a shared spirit: a generous mood, a glimpse of hope in the face of resignation, over a serene and honest sense of gratitude.
This is for the people that make life a bit more liveable, for the people that make you call a new place ‘home’. This is for the friends we find along the edge.
Advice in the Shape of a Sigh
For Klein
This is what life has granted us:
A moment
And a place.
Coincidence.
Confluence.
Us walking in the same direction.
Take it and be grateful.
We could not even ask for more.
Take it and move forward.
But hold it in your mind before it fades.
Cherish it. Breath the whole of it.
Let it consume the world around you.
And then let go.
Exhale.
Across the Black River
For Charon
Stranded, willingly stranded.
The night opened itself to us.
And we opened ourselves for it.
Across the black river we found a place to stay.
And so, we stayed.
Stranded, willingly stranded.
We tried to burn our secrets out.
We fed them to the dark waves.
The rowing sorrows, the whispered sighs, the shy smiles.
We could have stayed there.
There was two of us, then there was three. We could all have stayed.
We had no consolation to offer, only a place to stay.
Stranded, willingly stranded
Despite it all, we were happy.
Maybe, after all, this was the place where we wanted to stay.
Stranded willingly across the black river.
