The Wheel (I)

To Valentina

My sweetheart, we are a wheel,

each of us tied with our careworn rope ends

to the other’s shoe sole

and a child tumbles us head over heels

weeping down the mountains of the universe.

A spindle of frozen darkness

dwells between us,

supporting our somersault,

how hard it is to behold

our confused eyes in the topsy-turviness,

the rolling entraps villages,

immortal fortresses

on the wheel half

germinating from me,

while nature’s softness

unexpectedly adds

to the wheel side which devours you.

Thus you surrender

and I can barely hear your vanquished

call to motionlessness to take repose

but who can stop

a wheel from its rolling ?

English version by Gabriela PACHIA