SZENTE B. LEVENTE

 

 

In A Mute Wall

 

a thousand

chatty stones

jostle

in every

mute wall

 

……………………

they say

one stone holds

dark demons

another

bright-faced angels

 

……………………

we ourselves are

the mortar here

which binds

stone to stone

 

Translated By Kery, Leslie A.

 

Golden Band On The Brow Of God

 

Discovering and forgetting

are the hardest,

if you know what I mean,

because to lose one's way

in the maze of the soul

is not a mere matter of luck.

Like the woman

who once had been a sweetheart,

I hear her dulcet voice even today:

she says, yes, there are some,

beside whom it is good to be silent.

What sense is there in speaking,

sometimes the voice is superfluous.

Back then she leant towards me,

eyes closed, she kissed me,

then looked at me, gently smiled

and left.

I knew, she was transformed in my heart!

You see, she added,

the kiss, and the laughter and the music,

these are the nicest sounds,

man would only need this much,

it is this much which even I can tolerate.

All else is superfluous.

The art of beauty arising within one,

tell me, who can understand that?

If you know the answer, follow me,

but don't ever stone me

for what will be between the two of us.

You would only be warring against yourself.

If one day you’ll dare to love,

you will understand why

discovering and forgetting,

are the hardest.

Now we are tears and laughter –

golden band on the brow of God.

 

Translated By Kery, Leslie A.

 

Came Facing Them

 

(in memory of those, who were undeservedly forgotten)

 

they started off and went,

others came facing them

 

forward, for after all we are alike, just forward, not ever sideways,

to look back is no longer forbidden for looser or winner

 

those, who reached the goal, must send messages sometimes,

perhaps to those who stayed at home, so

 

they set off at last, and went,

back, into the times before the darkness.

 

Translated By Kery, Leslie A.

 

SZENTE B. LEVENTE

 

SZENTE B. LEVENTE (Szörényvár, 1972) Árpád Papp – Búvópatak Prize-winning poet, writer, local history researcher. Since 1994, his poems, tales, and writings resulting from cultural and local history research have been published in several Romanian, Hungarian, and other countries magazines, anthologies, and internet portals. He is also listed as the author of 16 independent volumes in encyclopedias and Wikipedia. Knight of Hungarian Culture. Member of the Romanian Hungarian Writers' League (EMIL) and the Romanian Writers' Association. He has lived in Székelykeresztúr since 1979, and has lived in Csekefalva since 2025. (Harghita County, Romania). His latest volume: The Light Under Your Head Has Fallen Asleep (poems – AB-ART Publishing House, Budapest – 2024), Elfengarten (fairy tale – Fairy Garden. translated by Kornélia Dohmen, United P.C. Publishing House, Dtschl – 2025.