White paper and time - Jaan Kaplinski

White paper and time: one I am filling,
the other fills itself.
Both so similar. In front of both
I am shy and full of awe.
The poem is like a sheep
in the dark shed with a high threshold.
I feel uneasy when I approach it.
Sight remains outside. Here you can move
only with the help of your hands.
White paper. White wool. In the dark
both simply something not dark. The time
both invisible and visible
as outside in broad daylight,
where you left your eyesight.
Time - a white wet towel. Poetry trickling out
when you twist it.
A towel drying on a warm pipe
in the dark bathroom.

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Jaan Kaplinski (born 1941) Estonia
Translated by the author with Fiona Sampson
from: Evening brings everything back