Miriam Van hee (Belgium)

the pyramid of the sun (teotihuacan)
 
the air may have been more rarified then
and the wind cooler, the sun had
a different status, but nevertheless
it shone as it does now, fierce and remote
 
what mattered was to be prepared
the heights beckoned and climbing was
better than descending, gravity
seemed to lessen its hold and it was easier to see
 
a kind of connectedness, houses,
dusty roads where people were moving
and you could see that this place
was not the only one, nor was this city nor
 
this time, your heart was pounding and you thought
in vain about love, about having choices,
freedom or solace and you felt a foolish
longing to meet someone and then
 
you thought of the birds again, you’d
always been in awe of them, the way
they’d spread their wings at the last moment,
to set sail in the sky 

​Translated from the Dutch by Judith Wilkinson
source text: Miriam Van hee, Ook daar valt het licht, De Bezige Bij 2013