A SUDDEN CHANGE OF HEART

The horse’s head on the ovoo turns white,
turns really white,
like nothing’s happened in the world….
Like finding peace,
like the stillness of stallions,
the horse’s head turns white.
This divine creature
threw back his head.
This dumb creature
forgot to neigh.
Mark his golden skull with the words:“Gone away.”
Oh…
A spring haze hangs like washing.
He’s jogging, whinnying, his mind’s gone this way,
his raging pounding pounding
heart’s gone that way.
The world’s left him
empty.
Just like it’s left me,
left me….
Just as my golden conscience,
which inscribed this destiny of mine,
goes this way.
Just as my tender heart,
which pursued that gentle love of mine,
has left me behind, so
the one I loved goes that way,
scattering my songs and my tears.
The tips of the grasses,
brown swaying on my homeland steppe,
whistle their agitation,
that the one who’s passed is forgotten,
poor thing….
The horse’s head upon the ovoo, and
the moon turns white over the lonely hills.

SPIRIT OF SADNESS

There is a spirit
in the sky above.
He has found pleasure
in the shining nakedness of people.
He has found pleasure
in the full moon’s striation.
He has found pleasure
in the grasses’ changing colors.
He has found pleasure
in the fortune of the generations.
He has found pleasure
in the rising again of the sun.
He has found pleasure
in the volcano amid the peaceful blue.
And oh there is a great spirit of sadness.
He is irritated
by the oceans’ calm.
He is irritated
by the flowers’ sedate poise and slow growth.
He is irritated
by the unblinking eyes of a thousand Buddhas.
He is irritated
by the steppe’s gloom and by the barren wolf.
He is irritated when the golden stars take time to glimmer.
He is irritated when eyes fail to tear.
And oh,
he is irritated when the earth turns and turns.
In the deep blue overhead
there is a spirit
like the one at my core.