Venice masks

Thursday 28 January 2021

This tiny watch - Ivar Ivask

This tiny watch will soon have measured
its century. An heirloom of Father's sister Adelheid.
"Union horlogere" — a watch of steel, although
the monogram Al is gold. Day in day out
it accompanied the housekeeper on Rannu estate,
where she cooked, ordered, commanded, was on her feet
till late at night. Then fell asleep.
The watch ticked untiringly on. Just as it does
for me. This ticking gives me cause to ponder,
how one bearer after another disappears under the sod,
yet by their deathbed the watch immortally
ticks on. Good for another couple of centuries.

Ivar Ivask (1927 - 1992) Estonia
Translated by Ivar and Astrid Ivask
Source: Lituanus, Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences, Volume 32, No. 1 - Spring 1986

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