(Untitled painting by Livonian Latvian painter Jāņ Bēļța (1893-1946). Only about 18 of his paintings are currently known)
Silver Grave
I wade in the wavy silver shallows, Pearls and amber roll beneath my feet, I squeeze the very silver with my toes.
I wade further into the silver floodplains How cool the silver is, how gentle it feels! The silver already now reaches my knees!
And higher it climbs around my limbs Now silvery ivy twisting Around my pale thigh-columns it winds.
Up to my burning chest From my hips is a pillar Blanketed now in silver waves.
Already my red blood like icy frost Turns to silver, flowing through my flesh My heart thumping like a silversmith's hammer.
The silver rides higher, splashes thrown, It closes my eyelids Sprinkling eyelashes with silver.
I am swayed by the silver lullaby - Lifted up on the water’s surface Only the two gulls of my palms. -
Soon they too will be swallowed up And a white waterlily alone Will grow on my silver grave.
- Aspazija (1865-1943) (From her collection: In The Time Of Asters - Autumn Poems, 1928)
My translation from the Latvian; see Keep Reading for the Latvian original.
