1. Autumn like a slap in the face, on the threshold of September
In Aquileia: the wipers peel the rain
And the squashed insects from the windscreen,
we slow down,
So that is the town, that stone axis in the plain Between the black cypresses creaking in the wind
Like the beams of a ship;
and the gnawed bones
Of a jetty drowned in the wet grass,
Rain-sprinkled grasshoppers, a few wild flowers,
The mosaic floor of yesterday’s summer buried in ozone
Beneath the fallen vault of lightning; so we must
Take their word for it: the signs mentioned
In the guidebook, the fragments, and the darkness
Beneath our feet, and the red parasol before the caf
(Ivan Lalic)
More Poetry from Ivan Lalic:
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Faces Poems, Flowers Poems, Sign & Symbol Poems, Autumn PoemsBased on Keywords: wipers, squashed, ozone, windscreen, guidebook