Black Mood

by Rosalia de Castro

translated by John Frederick Nims

     When I think you're somewhere yonder,

dark penumbra, so benumbing

—back again! and by my bedside

hunched to mock with: "Trouble coming!"

     Half imagining you vanish

—in the sun, that shadow massing!

You're a glumness in the starlight,

glumness where the winds are passing.

     When there's singing, you're the singer;

when there's sorrowing, the sorrow.

You're the brooks that murmur darkly;

gloom this evening, gloom tomorrow.

     You're in all. Are all. Marooning

me in me myself. Moroser

moods that never long unloosen—

dark penumbra close and closer.

~~~

Last Light, First Light

by pony

I watched the earth rise to quench the sun,

Then ran home, alone, up the hills,

A little tired, without much bounce in my step.

Then something odd happened, the street

Grew illuminated, the buildings too, as if

The street lights had come on especially bright.

I turned around, for the light seemed to be 

Coming from behind me, and it was, the sun

Was rising again, from the west, from the Pacific.

I know why. There is unfinished business,

Something has been left unsaid, and undone.

It will take a while to put it all together, I sense

This is a chance to get it right, perhaps a last chance.

It may take quite a while, but there is light to work by.