Through the gates of eternity I’ll ride
On a grasshopper huge and green.
————————–—Egils Plaudis

don’t beckon yet! I don’t yet want to ride
to you on the back of a huge grasshopper
I still want to linger here
among various earthly substances

still want to see how the wind
sweeps away slogan after slogan
how in another spring
morning tears open blossoms

don’t call yet! The gates of eternity still
covered tight closed with mirrors
I love life like a nettle
that flowers in stung lips

still want to hear how in darkness
some colleague digs a pit for me
still want to see how in my fatherland
there’s cheating, fraud and theft

oh homeland translucent and mournful
the heart beats louder and louder
on shattering mirrors already reflected
the green light of farewell

Translated from the Latvian by Inara Cedrins