To One I Love So Well

‘The sea is as deep, there is as much water in the sea, in a calm, as in a storm’

John Donne

Smile, my delicious angel,

Your day is suspended between the gold of the dawn

And the river of love flowing from my hands.

So white and delicate, so sparkling and clear

Is your skin like the virgin snow of the Caucasus

Torn by the fervour of spring streams.

‘Night words are like butter,

As soon as the sun rises, they melt’ you say

In your smiling sea-blue voice,

Sweet as the air full of terebinth.

I know your body,

Traversed by galaxies of stars,

So different from mine.

I know your soul’s frontier is infinity.

Ah, my angel scented with sweet briar

And Nubian saffron,

Come,

Lean over my face,

Heal my soul with your glittering look,

You who have the Lord in your eyes,

You, my only homeland, my roots.

Ah, my angel of white water lilies,

Erase from the scarred tablets of my heart

All the wounded words save one: Love.

Do it, my angel,

So that I may become in one fell swoop

Intelligence,

Conciliation

And indulgence!

Translated from the French of Athanase Vantchev de Thracy by Norton Hodges

September 2012