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Sweeney, Matthew: The Hat

Portre of Sweeney, Matthew

The Hat (English)

A green hat is blowing through Harvard Square
and no one is trying to catch it.
Whoever has lost it has given up –
perhaps, because his wife was cheating,
he took it off and threw it like a frisbee,
trying to decapitate a statue
of a woman in her middle years
who doesn’t look anything like his wife.
This wind wouldn’t lift the hat alone,
and any man would be glad to keep it.
I can imagine – as it tumbles along,
gusting past cars, people, lampposts –
it sitting above a dark green suit.
The face between them would be bearded
and not unhealthy, yet. The eyes
would be green, too – an all green man
thinking of his wife in another bed,
these thoughts all through the green hat,
like garlic in the pores, and no one,
no one pouncing on the hat to put it on.



Uploaded byRépás Norbert
PublisherVintage Digital
Source of the quotationSelected Poems
Bookpage (from–to)42-42
Publication date

U prašini (Croatian)

A onda je u prašini nacrtao lice, 
žensko lice, i pitao 
čovjeka koji je pio viski pokraj njega 
je li je ikada sreo, ili možda zna tko je ona, 
i svo vrijeme je zurio dolje u nju, baš kao 
da će od toga žena biti cjelovitija. A onda, 
na odrječito kimanje glavom, čizmom je 
raspršio njen lik u oblačak koji se slegao. 
Dodao je cjepanicu u vatru, 
iskapio čašu i još jednom nalio do ruba 
prateći pogledom svojega psa kako ustaje 
da bi promuklo zalajao prema prljavoj cesti 
koja se pružala, pusta, u pravcu brdovitog horizonta. 
Srsi su ga prošle baš u trenuku kad se ogasio prvi lavež 
koji se potom udvostručio, utrostručio, zaštektao kao mitraljez 
koji presreće nadolazeće ništa, i tako je ustao  
spreman na suočenje, ali nije bilo čak ni vjetra 
da mu očeše lice, nije se uobličila nikakva prilika, 
pa kad je pas zamuknuo, nečija ruka 
mu je pomogla da ponovno sjedne i pridruži se čaši.



Uploaded byP. T.
Source of the quotationhttp://www.lyrikline.org

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