~ Medicated..... by Will Barber

... mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
ché la diritta via era smarrita....
... ma per trattar del ben ch'i' vi trovai,
dirò de l'altre cose ch'i' v'ho scorte. *
- Dante

I was a blust'ry wind of youth
Who frightened off the good,
Puzzled how they walked a path;
I caromed through the wood.

White-haired, I wander
New terrain -
Tamed, flat, calmer -
Euclid's plane?

I miss my rollercoaster,
The canyons and the hills;
This coastal plain I can enjoy
Because I take my pills.

In the green twilight
I have my bit of fun,
As I recall my fiery days.
The trouble I got in:

That's great consolation.
I miss the old extremes,
But I'm safer to be around now.
I still dream vivid dreams.


05/2006




---


* trans. -- I found myself in a dark wood, where the direct path was lost... but to tell of the good I found there, I will speak of the other things I discovered.