No Where, Now Here

You Are Big in Love You are big in love.                                 And bold. My every step is timid. I’ll cause you no harm, and can hardly do you any good. Seems you are leading me off the beaten path through a forest. Now we’re up to our waist in wild flowers. I don’t even know                              what they are, these flowers. My previous training is of no help here. I’m uncertain                       what to do or how. You’re tired.                      You ask to be carried in my arms. You are already in my arms. Ahead of us stretches all that is pure,                                                            early, young,            and what bids us journey on. How quiet you are!                                As you breathe,                                                         your high bosom raises your dress. “Do you see?                       What a blue sky! Can you tell                     what birds sing in the forest? Well, what are you waiting for?                                                    Well?                                                             Carry me then!” And where shall I carry you? Yevgeny Aleksándrovich Yevtushenko, 1955 English translation by George Reavey

Untitled #8, from the series Languor. Photo: Donavon Smallwood.