Keeper of the dark, cold shores

A feketerigó hatalmas távolságokat repül, hogy a telet melegebb éghajlaton töltse. Kivéve a hímeket – ők északon maradnak, még a leghidegebb éjszakákon is. Vajon miért? Lehet valami köze ahhoz a sárga csőrhöz, ami úgy világít a fekete tollak között, mint a telihold a téli éjszakában? Talán...

Az illusztráció – a fél évezrede halott Albrecht Dürertől – ugyan nem feketerigót ábrázol, de az ő madara épp olyan jól kiegészíti a verset, így felesleges lett volna mást keresni.

Keeper of the dark, cold shores

Keeper of the dark, cold shores
Of winter nights and winter morns
Where trees go numb and stones grow old
— Why are you still here?

You gave away your sungold feathers
Keeper of the dark, cold shores —
One for the swallow, one for the finch
To help’em get to sun-kissed groves.

You called for the moon, the sanguine moon,
To wake her from her sleep,
And witches danced through stone-barked trees
While you mourned your golden gown.

The youngest witch, who lagged behind
And still searched for her dance,
Saw your beak, that sharp, black beak
On the snow-sowed forest’s ground.

“Keeper of the dark, cold shores
— Why are you still here?”

She picked you up, and danced her dance,
Grew taller than stone-barked trees,
Then lifted up your stiff, cold head
All the way to the sanguine glaze

You sipped long from her ambrose shine
Keeper of the dark, cold shores —
And your beak turned gold like long-gone days
— That’s why you are still here?

Budapest, 17th of October, 2021

Illustrations: Albrecht Dürer’s Dead Blue Roller, from circa 1500