Что в поэте значит много?
Может, дар, но он от Бога.
Нет, в поэте важен класс.
Он везде – и в нас, и в вас.
What matters in a poet?
It could be wisdom.
It could be gift.
It could be an ability to sift
Through what a kingdom’s
Ruler says and shift
Your vision.
It may be getting everyday provision
From what you say.
It may be strangest things like social class.
It may be broken glass
At the crossroads.
It could be fishing rods
With its live bait
Fit for a shark.
It could be Noah’s Ark
That takes you
Where? Anywhere.
It matters, by the way
Which speedy highway
You take to greedy happiness
Which is belonging.
To what? You'll see.
The first thing is to cross the sea.
But may be better just to rip a carcass
Of an antelope
Killed by some other predators. Scavengers
Are really the hungriest, the angriest avengers,
The slowest in a running herd
Made up of predators and prey.
But any hunted nerd
Would know
It’s not what matters.