Csenger Kertai: Constant Slashing

To slash holes into the rose arbor,
so that I can see you just as
I have always remembered you.

There is no other way to render
you who swing with a girl’s
gentleness through the arbor
so that our hands touch for a few instants
when I cut down one large branch or other.

We have met somewhere before,
but the thorns scratch the air so
that I can’t look straight into your eyes;
I just sense your motion toward me.

 

Kertai Csenger: Folyton metszeni

Lyukakat metszeni a rózsalugasba,
hogy olyannak lássalak,
ahogy mindig is emlékeztem rád.

Máshogy lehetetlen formát adni neked,
aki egy kislány szelídségével
lendülsz keresztül a rózsalugason,
hogy néhány pillanatra összeérjen a kezünk,
amikor levágok egy-egy nagyobb ágat.

Valahol már találkoztunk,
de annyi tövis karcolja át a levegőt,
hogy nem tudok tisztán a szemedbe nézni,
csak sejtem, mikor közeledsz felém.

 

Csenger Kertai (b. 1995). Hungarian poet. Author of two poetry collections, Mindig kivirágzik (2019) and Hogy nekem jó legyen (2021). Studies aesthetics and Hungarian literature at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. Since 2019 he has served as an editor of the arts journal Új Forrás, where he helped create a column featuring young writers. Five poems from his second collection have been set to music and song by Hungarian musicians.

Diana Senechal

Diana Senechal

Diana Senechal (translator) is the 2011 winner of the Hiett Prize in the Humanities and the author of two books of nonfiction, Republic of Noise (2012) and Mind over Memes (2018), as well as numerous poems, stories, essays, and translations. Her translation of Gyula Jenei's collection Mindig más (Always Different: Poems of Memory) will be published by Deep Vellum in early 2022. She teaches at the Varga Katalin Gimnázium in Szolnok, Hungary.
Diana Senechal

Also by Diana Senechal (see all)

Author: Diana Senechal

Diana Senechal (translator) is the 2011 winner of the Hiett Prize in the Humanities and the author of two books of nonfiction, Republic of Noise (2012) and Mind over Memes (2018), as well as numerous poems, stories, essays, and translations. Her translation of Gyula Jenei's collection Mindig más (Always Different: Poems of Memory) will be published by Deep Vellum in early 2022. She teaches at the Varga Katalin Gimnázium in Szolnok, Hungary.