Orchestra
by Nina Cassian
Translated from the Romanian by Dana Gioia
Climbing the scales three octaves at a time,
I search for you among the high notes where
the tender flute resides. But where are your
sweet eyelashes? Not there.
Then I descend among the sunlit brasses--
their funnels glistening like fountain tips.
I let them splash me with their streaming gold,
but I can't find your lips.
Then daring ever deeper I explore
the depths the elemental strings command.
Their bows will not create a miracle
without your stroking hand.
The orchestra is still. The score is blank.
Cold as a slide rule the brasses, strings, and flute.
Sonorous lover, when will you return?
The orchestra is mute.
--------
Poem from Life Sentence: Selected Poems, edited by William Jay Smith (Norton, 1990), swiped from Rita Dove's column in The Washington Post Book World.
Gacked from
Which oft-overlooked LotR character are you?
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current clothes: Early morning sweatshirt and pants with holes
current mood: A little tired, rainy-day mode
current music: Enrique Iglesias (was just reading a piece of fanfic that referred to a song; otherwise no way)
current taste: Dull remains of green mouthwash
current make-up: You must be kidding
current hair: We're all going to get ours cut in an hour so it's a huge, scraggly, frizzy mess right now
current annoyance: Have to watch Andromeda tonight when I'd rather watch more Sharpe
current smell: Autumn rain, a good smell
current thing i ought to be doing: Answering e-mail from someone I've put off for too long
current desktop picture: Aragorn and Boromir from the exended edition right after Boromir grabs Aragorn by the tunic -- I could look at this all month
current favorite movie: This is a joke right? See above
current favorite tv show: Slashville, though I know in my heart of hearts that in the end West Wing will have had a more profound effect on me
current favorite actor: There is no choosing between Sean and Viggo so I'll punt and say Glenn Close, my perennial goddess
current book: Sherwood Forest by Lisa Croll DiDio, which I was supposed to have finished and reviewed by now, though I am enjoying it
current cd in cd player: Joan Osborne, Relish
current color of toenails: Perpetually clear and boring
current refreshment: Cracklin' Oat Bran cereal; would have been Frosted Mini-Wheats if the kids hadn't eaten them all up
current worry: That all the money we're saving to go to London will have to be spent to repair the roof, among many other financial concerns
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