Meeting in a Lift (Vladimir Holan)
translated from the Czech by
Ian and Jarmila Milner
We stepped into the lift. The two of us, alone.
We looked at each other and that was all.
Two lives, a moment, fullness, bliss.
At the fifth floor she got out and I went on up
knowing I would never see her again
that it was a meeting once and for all,
that if I followed her I would be like a dead man in her tracks
and that if she came back to me
it would only be from the other world.
We didn't meet in a Lift (Maggie Doyle)
We stepped out of the lift. All of us, together.
We didn't look at each other and that was everything.
So many lives, so long, emptiness, despair.
At the tenth floor everyone got out and I went down
Not knowing if I would ever see them again
but that if I didn't it would be like ignoring them
and if they did not return this world would be gone.
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