I want
Neither the old titles
Nor the new ones.
Call me
By the same familiar name
I am a man
A man of yesterday and today
A man of today and tomorrow.
In my eyes, the stars fade away
And in my hands, the setting sun.
In my smile, a child is born
And from my heart, blood bubbles up.
I am my own god, and yet
I see myself as a fox
With a tail turbaned on my head.
I am the goddess of creation, and yet
I see myself as a cog
In the frowning wheel of production.
I get up, and from the quiet porch
Look at the dead trees of winter
I wrap myself in the sweater
That Marjan knitted in prison,
To give history and nature
Their first lesson in freedom.
December 22, 1985
This poem was first published in my collection of poems, Muddy Shoes (Beyond Baroque Books 1999).
