Poesia kaiera
Zirujaua
Jack McGintyrentzat
Jack, ene Jack handia,
arasa eta torloju arteko gizona,
nolatan zenirudien hain ņimiņo
New Yorken? Jack doktorea,
zure bulegoan, baldintzapean
ni aske uzteko bileran,
joan zen astean nire aldakari torlojuak
kendu zenizkion hartan,
irla bat bezain handi zenirudien.
Orain torloju harekintxe eragiten diet martiniei
—lau hazbete, altzairu herdoilezina—,
eta lau urtez burdin horri iluntasunean eutsi zion
nire aldaka datorkit gogora.
Jack, ene Jack handia, hartuko al zenuke
belarri bat edo hatz bat,
nire oroigarri? Aroztegiko zure
tresnetako bat daukat nik...
Nire zer zati dagokizu zuri, ordea?
Ene hezurren oroitzapena
zure eskuetarantz hegan.
[1972]
The Surgeon
Jack, oh big Jack, / of the rack and the screw, / why in New York did you seem / tinier. Doctor Jack, / in your office, in the O.R. / last week unscrewing my hip, / you seemed as big as an island. / I stir my martinis with the screw, / four-inch and stainless steel, / and think of my hip where it lay / for four years like a darkness. / Jack, oh big Jack, / would you like an ear or a finger / to keep of me? From you I have / one of the tools of your carpentry. / But what do you keep of me? / The memory of my bones flying / up into your hands.