"December 7" by Yannis Ritsos:
The cook left his pots
and is feeding a sparrow.But the song doesn’t last long,
the dead take it underground.*
On packs of cigarettes
we scribble hurried numbers
that correspond to nothing.Addition—subtraction, addition—subtraction.
And yet, calculating, calculating
you manage in the end not to cry.
(From Diaries of Exile by Yannis Ritsos, translated from the Greek by Karen Emmerich and Edmund Keeley. Reprinted courtesy of Archipelago Books © 2012. Photo by Flickr user sludgegulper)
The Dish 