to live in perpetual Sunday
sun perched on the horizon
in each thing's clarity
earth contemplates its seasons
I have no place or dwelling
life is everywhere and nowhere

from the courtyard cistern the grandmother draws
water for the mint and basil
grinds the salt and spices
wages her daily battle with the real world
the breeze swells out stripes on the curtains
the lamp still glows
I play beyond the pictures

in my father's gardens
the trees bear ancient fruit
whisper in the birds' language
well-water sings in the furrows
beneath my steps sand-paths are born
I inhabit the day's innocence
pure beginning with no before or after

from a little house built like a boat
I let myself flow into blue emotion
a sea-horse ballet brushes
against fallen stars
sea-urchins blossom on the rocks
seaweed glitters on my wrist
only the moment lives in what I gaze at

I am a child and free
I have no place or dwelling
how vast the sky is when the whole
world is a poem
it's broad daylight on earth
night has not yet been created
I have a foothold in all of time

Translation: Marilyn Hacker