Monday 29 October 2012

Poem by the Danish writer
Henrik Nordbrandt

 
China observed through Greek rain in café turque

the drizzle
falls into my coffee
until it is cold
and overflows
until it overflows
and becomes clear
so that the picture on the bottom
becomes visible.

the picture of a man
with a long beard
in China, in front of a Chinese pavilion
in the rain, pouring rain
which has stiffened
into streaks
over the windswept facade
and over the man’s face.

beneath the coffee, milk and sugar
which are separating
beneath the well-worn glaze
appear eyes, extinguished
or inward-looking
towards China, in the cup’s porcelain
the cup slowly being emptied of coffee
and being filled with rain
clear rain. the spring rain

is atomised against the shed roof of the taverna
the facades on the other side of the street
are like a large
very worn wall of porcelain
whose gleam lights up the vine leaves
the vine leaves that are also worn
like the inside of a cup. the chinaman

sees the sun appear through a green leaf
that has fallen into the cup.

the cup whose contents
are now completely clear.

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