Love at First Sight

一見鐘情

They both thought

that a sudden feeling had united them

This certainty is beautiful,

Even more beautiful than uncertainty.

They thought they didn’t know each other,

nothing had ever happened between them,

These streets, these stairs, this corridors,

Where they could have met so long ago?

I would like to ask them,

if they can remember -

perhaps in a revolving door

face to face one day?

A "sorry" in the crowd?

"Wrong number" on the ’phone?

- but I know the answer.

No, they don’t remember.

How surprised they would be

For such a long time already

Fate has been playing with them.

Not quite yet ready

to change into destiny,

which brings them nearer and yet further,

cutting their path

and stifling a laugh,

escaping ever further;

There were sings, indications,

undecipherable, what does in matter.

Three years ago, perhaps

or even last Tuesday,

this leaf flying

from one shoulder to another?

Something lost and gathered.

Who knows, perhaps a ball already

in the bushes, in childhood?

There were handles, door bells,

where, on the trace of a hand,

another hand was placed;

suitcases next to one another in the

left luggage.

And maybe one night the same dream

forgotten on walking;

But every beginning

is only a continuation

and the book of fate is

always open in the middle.

Translation from Polish by Roman Gren

Translation from French by Sarah Hardenberg