C is for Cassian

Nina Cassian is a Romanian poet, composer, journalist and translator. Some people do manage to pack a lot into their lives, though I suppose, despite publishing 50 volumes, there is not much of a decent living to be made from writing poetry. She has been mentioned on my blog before. These two short poems are from her collection 'Life Sentence', both nice examples of how poetry can say such a lot in very few words.

Morning Exercises

I wake up and say: I'm through.
It's my first thought at dawn.
What a nice way to start the day
with such a murderous thought.

God, take pity on me
- is the second thought, and then
I get out of bed
and live as if
nothing had been said.


Please Give This Seat to an Elderly or Disabled Person

I stood during the entire journey
nobody offered me a seat
although I was at least a hundred years older than anyone else on board,
although the signs of at least three major afflictions
were visible on me:
Pride, Loneliness, and Art.


(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)