THE GIRL IN THE RAIN

Do not hurry,
let the rain flow
from your supple shoulders
covered by
dark loose hair.
Do not hurry,
beneath the doorsill of your house
smiles the abyss.
Do not hurry, stand a bit in the rain...
When it washes
your colorless face,
I can't see the tears
that water
the curiosity-burning
crowd.

Translated by Jonas Zdanys


WORRY

It's not that
Which tears the skin
Like the sun the treebud.
It's not that
Which walks in spring's steps
Bearing a tender promise
   And it's not that
Which opens and shuts the doors
With morning's thin fingers.
   It's that
Which, having listened attentively,
Nuzzles deep into the ground,
Bites into the living tree's roots,
And gnaws a hole for a quiet collapse.

Translated by Jonas Zdanys

Kotryna Grigaitytė-Graudienė was born in small village near the city of Vilkaviškis in southwestern Lithuania and came to the United States in 1949. She has published several volumes of poetry and a collection of short stories.