First Meetings ~ Arseniy Tarkovsky ( The Mirror ) ~

First Meetings

Every moment that we were together 

Was a celebration, like Epiphany, 

In all the world the two of us alone. 

You were bolder, lighter than a bird's wing, 

Heady as vertigo you ran downstairs 

Two steps at a time, and led me 

Through damp lilac, into your domain 

On the other side, beyond the mirror. 

When night came I was granted favor, 

The gates before the altar opened wide 

And in the dark our nakedness was radiant 

As slowly it inclined. And waking 

I would say, 'Blessings upon you!' 

And knew my benediction was presumptuous: 

You slept, the lilac stretched out from the table 

To touch your eyelids with a universe of blue, 

And you received the touch upon your eyelids 

And they were still, and still your hand was warm. 

Vibrant rivers lay inside the crystal, 

Mountains loomed through mist, seas foamed, 

And you held a crystal sphere in your hands, 

Seated on a throne as still you slept, 

And--God in heaven!--you belonged to me. 

You awoke and you transfigured 

The words that people utter every day, 

And speech was filled to overflowing 

With ringing power, and the word 'you' 

Discovered its new purport: it meant 'king'. 

Ordinary objects were at once transfigured, 

Everything--the jug, the basin--when 

Placed between us like a sentinel 

Stood water, laminary and firm. 

We were led, not knowing whither, 

Like mirages before us there receded 

Cities built by miracle, 

Wild mint was laying itself beneath our feet, 

Birds traveling by the same route as ourselves, 

And in the river fishes swam upstream; 

And the sky unrolled itself before our eyes. 

When fate was following in our tracks 

Like a madman with a razor in his hand.

Arseniy Tarkovsky ( The Mirror )