BOLOVITS GÁBOR

 

 

Standing

 

look at the flower among the ruins.

it does not know the city behind it has collapsed.

it does not measure the light,

does not bargain with the wind.

it does not mistrust its own spring.

it simply stands.

 

we count.

we keep record of what was taken from us,

and envy another person’s garden.

even our memories are about things

that never happened to us.

 

the flower opens because that is what it does.

it falls because its time has come.

not a tragedy.

a completed gesture.

 

look how it bends in the wind.

it does not explain.

 

The Whole Day

 

i have not grown tired of it.

it just takes longer and longer

to put myself on.

 

the body

always wakes

before i do.

 

i only catch up

with it later.

 

the mirror

does not lie.

 

it simply questions

the same witness

every day.

 

i know little

about angels.

 

if they exist,

they are surely not white.

 

all day

they walk among people.

 

salt flowers bloom

beneath their wings,

like sweat on workers’ shirts.

 

beneath their nails,

the night rests

like a black crescent.

 

on their shoulders

remain the marks

of the hands

of those

who clung to them.

 

by evening,

dust,

disinfectant,

and sweat

have dried upon them.

 

when they take off

their coats,

it is not a wing

that falls to the floor,

 

but the whole day.

 

if god

counts them,

he surely does not

recognise them

by their faces,

 

but by how much they carry

of what others

could no longer bear.

 

BOLOVITS GÁBOR

 

BOLOVITS GÁBOR is a Hungarian poet, born in 1967. He began writing poetry later in life, but it quickly became a defining part of who he was. His poems explore the human condition through everyday experiences, focusing on the body, time, mortality, silence, and human relationships. He writes in a minimalist, direct style, avoiding unnecessary ornamentation. His poems have been published in the Hungarian literary journals Magyar Múzsa, Agria, and Partium, as well as on several online literary platforms. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Irodalmi Kincsek Tára (Treasury of Literary Treasures), where he presenst the work of contemporary Hungarian poets and writers and promote literature.