by Ildiko Meny
For Barbara
Garden Eden will remain and the pain
like the three iron bands around your heart will burst
one after another
the waggon will stumble and the
first band of pain will burst
clover will grow, and the garden will follow wherever you go
walnuts can heal and of course some more prayers
and time might steal some good old memories
then the second band of pain will burst and your slippers will find a new place in a new entrance within a new home where someone is playing beautifully on the grand piano
and while playing a tune, the last iron band from around your heart bursts
new walnuts will grow, the children will run through the rain with naked feet and make the seven cherubim smile while they protect the entrance of your internal Eden
with their gigantic wings and give you special blessings
For Rebecca
I vividly remember you playing guitar in the back of a bus
packed with howling students
Do you remember the carpet we cleaned with our hands in this tiny old flat beneath the Strasbourg church?
… years later at Berlin Ringbahn, heading to a conference, spring in the air, we exchanged some small gifts and books…
I vividly remember you lying almost naked at the beach in France,
Mistral covered our eyes with sand, but we didn’t care because this was summer
of our youth in Europe, we watched this adolescent Phoenix grow its wings
I would so much love to hear from you
reading poetry from Bachmann or Ovidius while holding on the tiller and sailing
the Greek islands
© Ildiko Meny 2023-08-28