Katherine Gallagher

Keeper

You want me to be a lighthouse-keeper? Fine.
I'll set myself up in a spiralled house

with only books and the cat for company.

I'll learn how the sea looks

turned inside out, how bird cries

are thin winding scarves escaping.

I'll handle looking myself in the eye

when I peer down the telescope,

meet silences ragged as runaway clouds.

No one will know how I value

the way the ships' lights radiate,

how I long for their visits.

I'll stay my ground, teach people

to keep their distance,

maybe get to love this sea-life

drop my anchor, forget the city,

its solidity, after the ribbed

slip and slap of sea.

Dorina Palade

Katherine Gallagher

Paznic

Vrei sa fiu paznicul farului ? E-n regula.
am sa ma instalez sus intr-o casa in forma de spirala
doar cu carti si pisica pentru a-mi tine de urat.

voi afla cum arata marea
cand este rascolita,cum strigatele pasarilor
devin esarfe transparente, serpuitoare si fugare.

voi putea sa ma uit in ochii mei
cand voi privi atent prin telescop,
voi intalni taceri zdrentuite ca norii trecatori.

nimeni nu va sti cat pretuiesc
felul in care lumina vapoarelor radiaza,
cum tanjesc dupa venirea lor.

voi ramane pe loc, voi invata oamenii
sa stea departe,
poate sa-i fac sa iubeasca aceasta viata a marii

sa arunc ancora,sa uit de oras,
de siguranta lui, dupa fasia
vargata si marea care plescaie.