Glasses

JOHN BATKI

JOHN BATKI

Four Poems by ATTILA JOZSEF

GLASSES

A glass is a fresh, clean plant.

It glistens in the meadow

and dewdrops land on it.

If a small child looks at glasses,

they ring out softly.

Glasses grow in the heart of springs

but not even glassworkers know this secret.

Young men and girls are always

mistaking each other's glasses.

Once I too took the wrong one.

Since then no glass of water has been sweet for me,

although a bird dying of thirst

discovers the many fine glasses beyond the sky.