A BOAT CAME PASSING BY

A boat came passing by-
framed by the blue and laughing sky

He did not know I saw
his flirting with the waves and wind

And dancing with the dew.

Dangling from his graceful
end were lines of different hues

and a silent hunter’s plea
that tries to lure the restless sea

In the ancient game of prey.

I offered him a thought or two
that the fish may come to say hello

And swiftly as they glide away
they do not take with them

The courage of a boat-
who sometimes lost

and sometimes
also won.

LONELY FLAT IN NOVO MESTO

This flat is sad, sad, sad!
There is no cat
that chases the rat
when I am out

when I come home
I cannot stand this room
and the smell of doom
by the kitchen door

Lonely, lonely flat
or is this just my heart
that cannot dare to beat
to the music of life?

Can somebody teach my
tired, calloused feet to fly
outside the realm of sky?
then perhaps

This sad, sad, sad flat
Will finally catch a cat.

MY DRESS

I wear this dress
that does not fit
around my neck
I cannot breathe
can barely sneeze
between my teeth
It gets so warm
with long sleeved arms
in the summer time
The shade of gloom
while flowers bloom
outside my room

This will not do.
This shade of gray-

I take off this dress
that does not fit
around my neck
Now I can breathe
and also sneeze
between my teeth
The tiny birds
they fly outside
the familiar cage
And naïve wings
slowly, softly open
to Beethoven’s lament.

This will not do
The preacher says-
This shade of gray.

Put back that dress
that chokes you
just around your neck
You should not breathe
nor sneeze
between your teeth
Kill the bird
that dare to fly
outside its cage
Where butterflies
succumb-
in nectar’s bed.

THE CROSSROAD

I see the road that all of us must
take once,
twice,
or thrice.

The yellow road of spring
That starts to grow its wings

It forks to the left and right
and back,
then forward
or so it seems.

This way is lined with leaves of green
I know not where it is leading-

The others also tempt my feet
Red road
and white
and blue.


Which way should I go?
Please tell me what to do

They say this one leads to the avenue
Of joy
Love, hope
And beauty too

But lurking on its happy street
Is a shade of sorrow’s hue

Perhaps I will not cross any road
I’ll stay
just where
I stood

And everyone who passes by
Can watch me while I cry.

LJUBLJANA TRAIN STATION (Winter 2003)

The airplane to Munchen touches down
and my eager toes alight
They brought me to the hauptbahnhof, soon
but not so soon enough

All around me the clouds converge
scattering this dreamy
specks of dainty white that promises
to stay the night

I have to sleep with Marie Therese
alone in this wintry bed
I am so eager that I drag my foot
across the slippery road

To the house that will give me the stamp
to cross this silent line
While you wait for me beside the lighted lamp
on a dark and chilly night

Off to Villach aboard a galloping horse
that swiftly takes me past
magical castles all in white that wonder
fills my hungry heart

All around you the clouds unite
scattering this dreamy
specks of exquisite white that fall on your coat
but they disappear into the night.

FOR RAIMUND (four years later)

I have written
three poems
that were sad

deserted yachts
in a lonely
beach

stains of
dry and ugly
blood

and blue green eyes
that ache
so bad.

Ach,du
with the painful
heart

that is buried
in a hearty laugh
of steel

and funny tales
of a world
gone mad.

I laughed
with you
like a lonely clown

a smitten fly
caught
in a spider’s web


that you spun
around my
innocent head.

You have to go
I do not know
where

to set
me free from
this invisible jail

so I can fly
with the dove
in the spring of sky.

I no longer
miss you
like years ago

but there are nights
when the full
moon Is out

and my sad
poems
fill the air.

Ach, du
with the
beautiful heart

this will not
be the last
sad poem

that I will write.

I CHERISH

every kiss I get with an open feet
and every time I start this act
I wonder if it would result-
in a searing pain on the chest

For when the story starts to rhyme
the bells, they start to chime
announcing that a lovely crime
Committed at this time

will hurt my worn out heart
that is enclosed in a sheet
of silk and heavy lead,
and dotted with colorful beads.

I cherish every pain that comes
with an anxious open palm
Can someone give me a balm?
that heals and brings me calm

For I cannot eat and cannot sleep
Can’t go to an ocean so deep
Not even to a short, side trip
away from this cruel cliff.

I’m sure am not here alone
I grieve with many in this zone
So- tonight I shall go to bed
with feet that do not bleed.

TONIGHT

I will give away
my chastity
open my moon-
and I will yield
entirely, totally
Madness shall claim
me and fire
shall possess me,
I will swim
through the waves
grasp the wind
of the stormy sea.
And you who plucks
me on this starless
night of Eros
from the haughty
branch where I perched
in full bloom,
You who glide
between my branches
to caress my
raging fire
shall hold me
when I fall-
when we fall
and resist gravity.

THE SMILE

I am sinking in a hole
Where the ghosts
Talk to me
And the light
Betrays my sight
I shiver in the cold
Of fear when hope
Is no longer there
And hungry hands
Pull me down-
Down, down I go
Restricted earth-
I am in pain
I grip the stones
Cry with my bones
Again and again
And again-

He squeezes me
And smiles.

MATCHSTICK

There is only
a single matchstick
left in the box.
And there are
still so many things
I have to light;
the dangling filter
cigarette in my
dry, parched mouth,
and the shivering
water, sleeping in
the gas stove pot.

Which one should
I light at first?

Perhaps the wind
will snatch the fire
from the lonely
matchstick in the box,
and the cheeky gas
in the bottle escaped
for I can not hear him
nor smell his scent.

I would rather light
my cigarette now.
It is quite tasty
and very dry
it will surely
nurture the fire.