Verses by Ion Minulescu, translated by Julia Kalman
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Stop me!
Don’t let me
kiss you,
for my mouth
the moment it touches yours
greedily absorbs your breath
with which you prolong the caricature
that the good Lord
sketched after His own image –
as dictated by inspiration!
Stop me!
Don’t let me
kiss you,
for my mouth
is the mouth that kisses
only with the silent kiss
of those who, reconciled with the divine,
set forth with feet ahead
and in their mouth a flower,
picked specifically for those who die!
Stop me!
Don’t let me
kiss you,
for my mouth
kisses without.. “to be continued”.
And tomorrow at dawn when I leave,
In my mouth
with your breath,
I won’t leave you — as a memory –
anything but my portrait on the gate,
a day of mourning on the calendar,
the bill at the carriage,
and.. “Your eternal remembrance”
at the bottom of the eight glasses
of mulled brandy,
emptied after the funeral
by the eight pallbearers
carrying your coffin on their shoulders.
Stop me!
Don’t let me
kiss you,
for my mouth
has only kissed like this
as it wanted..
And so it will always kiss,
because — fatally — it’s not I who kiss,
Only my Mouth kisses.
Ion Minulescu (1881–1944) was a Romanian avant-garde poet, novelist, and playwright. Under pseudonyms like I. M. Nirvan and Koh-i-Noor, he challenged norms, while his journey to Paris immersed him in the Symbolist movement, leaving an enduring mark on his work.
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Julia Kalman 