Perpetuum Mobile
Translated By Michael Hamburger
Between people’s
ideals
and their realization
there is always
a greater drop
than in the highest
of waterfalls.
This potential gradient
can be exploited
rationally,
if we build a sort of
power station above it.
The energy it supplies,
even if we use it only
to light our cigarettes,
is something
anyway;
for while one is smoking
one can very seriously
think up
ideals even crazier.
Copyright Credit: “Perpetuum Mobile” from Selected Poems by Marin Sorescu, translated by Michael Hamburger. Published in 1983 by Bloodaxe Books. www.bloodaxebooks.com
Source: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 1983)