AUTUMN EQUINOX
Now night and day are equal. In between,
Halfway between the two of them I stand.
I stretch my left hand out towards the moon,
And to the sun I stretch out my right hand.
Both light and darkness I can understand
Half in the light, half in the darkness standing.
A moment when they cannot feel offence,
Neither the morning, nor the twilight evening.
The equinox quite equally divides
Two realms - the realm of day and that of night.
The future and the past have their domains
Also divided equally tonight.
For a brief interval day equals night,
Joy equals grief, like vein and artery.
Wherever we cast eyes it is the same:
All things obey the law of symmetry.
Man's heart alone does not obey that law,
As if it would not mingle with the crowd,
It stays on the left side until the end,
Uncompromising, independent, proud.
~Algimantas Baltakis-1964
Translated by Dorian Rottenberg |
