Violins, by Anna Margolin

Niccolò Paganini - Concerto for Violin 1 in D major, Op. 6, III
with Yehudi Menuhin

The blue dream of violins.

I and you,

such a revelation,

such a revelation,

and nobody knows,

that we circle

in golden rings

like butterflies,

in the blue night of violins.

You, my peace,

our night,

the blue violins play

for me and for you.



poem from Drunk from the bitter truth: Poems of Anna Margolin
State University of New York Press, 2005

Night, by Anna Margolin

Arrigo Boito - "L'altra notte in fondo al mare", Mefistofele with Maria Callas

(translated by Shirley Kumove)

I battle enemies in the darkness,
not seeing a single face.

Every night, whistling and banging,
and the tramp of disappearing steps.
I stand bloodied and dead weary
but will not, will not fall.
Every night thereafter, the broad, enveloping silence
as from many pipe organs and restless lights,
and above me, smiling, hovering,
an immense, shadowy face.