Thursday, April 15, 2010

Friday

For M.

Even on Friday
the fragrance
of your perfume
from Wednesday night
kept drifting up
from my coat
when I moved
my head or arms
in some specific way

In the car
on the way to Stuttgart,
in the concert
with the African music
by Isak Roux

Through the air forest
of the landscape rushing by

And in the silence
lingering between the notes
from piano, marimba,
cello, flute and woodwinds

you were –
off and on –
right there
in me and around me

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2010)

This one was originally written in German years ago.

Rendered in English and brought to napowrimo #16 because the prompt ("What’s that smell?") made me remember it. It was originally written on a Friday (hence the title) and was now translated on a Friday. That is definitely beyond coincidence :)

Isak Roux is a South-African composer and pianist who lives in Stuttgart, Germany.

6 comments:

Robin said...

Leonard--Beautiful poem. Perfume really creates strong memories...as I sit here smelling my grandmother's perfume-scented nightgown. (Still smells of her perfume although she's been dead for around 19 years!)

rallentanda said...

A tender wistful poem. I liked the perfume from Wednesday still lingering on the coat. Enjoyed!

flaubert said...

Beautiful!
Pamela

J. D. Mackenzie said...

Leonard,
almost like synchronicity. I had read your poem prior to creating and submitting my own for this prompt, but it seems we used a similar premise, the smells of someone we like lingering on us. Truthfully, I liked yours better.
Well done!
JDM

Aayushi Mehta said...

I loved this. Glad you remembered it, and then translated it. :)

Yousei Hime said...

Really like this. Takes the reader, the scent, the lovers, on a journey. Nice. Thank you for it.