One Poem by Petar Penda

 

 

POETS

 

Poets are phoney and cruel,

Creating words and images,

Transforming the common into the sublime,

Making us believe in the significance

Of void and meaningless things.

They turn the plain sea into a deep mystery, 

A force that stirs our life

And gives us salty bliss.

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Make the sky into a magnificent eternity, 

Which fills us with a sense of freedom.

Poets' solitude and gloominess,

Despair and the hazy feeling of joy

Are only false colours, crafty phrasing,

And skilful rhythms which speed up our hearts.

Yet, when we read of unspeakable things,

Imprisoned with the air in the lungs,

Of the dull gaze which conceals I love you,

Of the stopped hand movement

Wishing to touch a face and quench the desire,

Of the infinite sorrow in the eyes

Because two lovers have met too late,

Then we are moved,

Whether this all is a lie or the truth.

Petar Penda is a professor of English and American literature (University of Banja Luka) and a translator. His translations have been published in renowned journals in the USA and the UK. His poetry was published by "Fevers of the Mind", "Lothlorien Poetry Journal", "A Thin Slice of Anxiety", "Trouvaille Review" and others.