Behold, she dangles, helpless in the sky,
Affrighted by the curving earth below:
It beckons so seductively, as though
'Twould be a blessing if she were to fly
Into its distant bosom, not to die,
But rather to embrace, to love, to know
(As we have known) the perfect vertigo
Where, in an instant, all the world wheels by,
But really I'm a stranger to extremes,
And in my life, where trifling things abound,
No heart-arresting plummet shall there be,
Yet plucked from airy summits in my dreams
I'm crushed against the safe and stable ground,
Extinguished by familiarity.
Daniel Platt is a translator, poet and musician who resides in Los Angeles. More of his translations and original poems can be found here.