yves sent me a text message:
for three days now some italian girl's been watching me under water.
i watch her too, down there we're naked and alone. on the surface
we don't know each other.
i replied in our everyday slang:
be cool! stay well! after that, according to the next message,
he went under again, because "down there it's calm and unbelievably beautiful."
i understood his cry on that other, distant shore.
then i dived into marguerite yourcenar's oriental stories:
made a trip to china, then kotor, dubrovnik, then i surfaced again
melancholically, even though that's not in vogue anymore.
i saw several italian, four czech and seven plump hungarian girls.
i saw a sunshade twisting in the rhythm of the body,
i saw a pair of blue, tireless and bottomless eyes too:
i wanted to fight the desire for diving, but i couldn't
look away, i couldn't put my sunglasses on,
in general: i couldn't move from my place in the sand,
in which, calmly and silently, i sank and sank.

2001-08-18

Translated by Tomislav Kuzmanović