Clarisse Nicoïdski: A Ladino Poem

The Mouth

open
like a well
where i could lay
closed
like a door
when they killed on the street

my lying mouth
awaits
aware that surely later
it will tear me apart

*

mouth of stone
open like a leaf atop the white tree
screaming fire
words
shouting beware
to the eye that unaware
looks at you
open like a leaf atop the white tree

mouth of stone
arriving from defunct times
sea of salt dried river silent
stone of leaf
mouth of tree

*

when the mouth of the earth will open
the shadows of your mothers shall scream
the mothers shall scream
for their children

when the mouth of the earth will open
we shall feel a sole word of fire
and the thirst
shall remind us of the flavor of water

when it will open
only that silence able to generate fraight
shall cover our face
emerging from it
the answer

*

i have glass in the mouth
that’s why it opens
that’s why i laugh
i speak

and when the glass enters deeper
i seem to feel
a broken vessel
sounding
the song of forgotten happiness

*

written
line of the first scripture
word of a lost language
i seek to understand you
when your eyes your eyes the face the forehead
when
you are nothing but a boat at the end of its journey
nothing but a mute scripture

*

burned with angst
torn in silence
in the middle of my face
taking the path of your eyes
when they depart
i no longer know who sees me
who speaks to me
who heals this blood
that one day i don’t know when
stopped before the edge of an abyss
was life
and became mouth

*

a scream emerged from your mouth
like a fish
seeking to leave
the river
for the sea
a scream emerged from your mouth
like a knife
seeking to leave
the hand
for the body
emerged
from your mouth
a killing scream

and in between your lips
it died