Romanian Oddity

for Ki Young-In

I've seen the place where people work even in their sleep
there I fell in love with a yellow woman
for whom I was an oddity from another world:
a polyglot gipsy, whose throaty voice sounds
through the darkness of a ghost town
inhabited by 10 million robots.

when I stopped begging for understanding and warmth,
I lifted myself from the earth in a buddhist legend
my body floated for a while
in an abyss full of neon lights and optic cables

and everything burned in an instant
turning to ashes before my eyes
blurred by desire and madness,
as in a film from the old age of silent pictures
in which dummies imitate people's gestures and habits.

            translated by Rareş Moldovan