interval of joy - nikos karouzos

Interval Of Joy
by Nikos Karouzos (tr. Kimon Friar)

just as I was saying I would stop writing about love and lust

and write something instead about the unhappiness of my

   neighbor

I met you and fell into complete confusion

and all my resolutions went up in air

now see where i sit and write songs again

burning for your somewhat green eyes

thirsting for your saliva

recollecting our one love-walk in the country

when the mosquitoes bit us in confused bewilderment

at this incomparable devotion of ours

and the thorns pierced into our bodies

astonished at the extent of our indifference

it was an interval of joy

may the unhappy forgive me for it

I have not yet suffered enough

for the pain of my neighbor to touch me