Dan Pagis > Quotes

“WRITTEN IN PENCIL IN THE SEALED RAILWAY-CAR

here in this carload
i am eve
with abel my son
if you see my other son
cain son of man
tell him that i”
― Dan Pagis

“I am as yet
a storm of zero force.
Almost a breath.”
― Dan Pagis, Variable Directions: Selected Poetry

“Selon les diseuses de bonne aventure
les cartes rouges et noires
ne me laissent pas le choix.
Dans ma paume, la ligne de vie
est creusée comme une cicatrice.
Il n'y aura pas de miracles.

Mon sang ne remontera pas sa pente.
Ce qui doit m'arriver,
m'arrivera implacablement
et s'imposera
tel un long rêve
insupportable.

On m'a permis d'espérer,
sans que l'espoir me soit imposé par quiconque.
Alors, je ne demande que de vivre
en paix entre mes frontières.”
― Dan Pagis

“Where to begin?
I don’t even know how to ask.
Too many tongues are mixed in my mouth. But

at the crossing of these winds,
very diligent, I immerse myself
in the laws of heavenly grammar: I am learning
the declensions and ascensions of
silence.
...
If it has been ordained that I pull out of here,
I’ll try to descend rung by rung,
I hold onto each one, carefully –
but there is no end to the ladder, and already
no time. All I can still do is fall into the world”
― Dan Pagis, Variable Directions: Selected Poetry