Vera Pavlova QUOTES

1 " I have brushed my teeth.
This day and I are even. "

2 " I broke your heart.
Now barefoot I tread
on shards. "

― Vera Pavlova

3 " dropped
and falling
from such
heights
for so
long
that
maybe
I will have
enough time
to learn
flying "

― Vera Pavlova

4 " A Remedy for Insomnia

Not sheep coming down the hills,
not cracks on the ceiling--
count the ones you loved,
the former tenants of dreams
who would keep you awake,
once meant the world to you,
rocked you in their arms,
those who loved you...
You will fall asleep, by dawn, in tears. "

― Vera Pavlova

5 " Why is the word yes so brief?
it should be
the longest,
the hardest,
so that you could not decide in an instant to say it,
so that upon reflection you could stop
in the middle of saying it. "

― Vera Pavlova , If There is Something to Desire: One Hundred Poems

6 " Let us touch each other
while we still have hands,
palms, forearms, elbows . . .
Let us love each other for misery,
torture each other, torment,
disfigure, maim,
to remember better,
to part with less pain. "

― Vera Pavlova

7 " Basked in the sun,
listened to birds,
licked off raindrops,
and only in flight
the leaf saw the tree
and grasped
what it had been. "

― Vera Pavlova , If There is Something to Desire: One Hundred Poems

8 " … if necessary, the books shall be divided as follows:
you get the odd, I get the even pages;
"the books" are understood to mean the ones we used to read aloud
together, when we would interrupt our reading for a kiss,
and would get back to the book after half an hour … "

― Vera Pavlova , If There is Something to Desire: One Hundred Poems

9 " We lay down, and the pain let up.
We embraced, and the pain let go:
no more scalding regrets,
no scorching remorse
that oppressed the soul,
that weighted like a stone on the heart.
You, on top of me, heavy, immense,
and I, feeling so light. "

― Vera Pavlova , If There is Something to Desire: One Hundred Poems

10 " The first kiss in the morning
tastes like the first kiss on earth.
My waking soul is innocent,
as I lie next to the tenant
of my best dreams.
When I caress him I know:
a kiss is preverbal,
a word is a kiss's junior. "

― Vera Pavlova , If There is Something to Desire: One Hundred Poems

11 " Thought's surface: word.
Word's surface: gesture.
Gesture's surface: skin.
Skin's surface: shiver. "

― Vera Pavlova

12 " Stay longer in me,
take root. "

― Vera Pavlova

13 " Memory keeps nothing unnecessary
or superfluous.
How much of your past
am I still to go through?
Taking dreams for memories
I stroke the sleeper’s head.
A secret poll. The future
comes in last. "

― Vera Pavlova , If There is Something to Desire: One Hundred Poems

14 " Sprawling
after love:
“Look,
the ceiling is
all covered with stars!”
“And maybe
on one of them
there is life . . . "

― Vera Pavlova , If There is Something to Desire: One Hundred Poems

15 " Armpits smell of linden blossom,
lilacs give a whiff of ink.
If only we could wage love-making
all day long without end,
love so detailed and elastic
that when the nightfall came,
we would exchange each other
like prisoners of war, five times, no less!

— Vera Pavlova, “53,” If There is Something to Desire: One Hundred Poems. Translated by Steven Seymour. (Knopf; 1St Edition edition January 19, 2010) "

― Vera Pavlova , If There is Something to Desire: One Hundred Poems

16 " zi de zi
se-mplinește suta de ani de la nașterea cuiva
clipă de clipă
e jubileul vreunor sărutări
așadar toarnă
să bem în amintirea veseliilor de cândva "

― Vera Pavlova , Linia de ruptură

17 " Nu sta în pragul durerii – intră
te aștept. "

― Vera Pavlova

18 " when you are alone
your letters become longer
your poems shorter

— Vera Pavlova, from “13″ of “22 Haiku,” Album for the Young (and Old): Poems, trans. Steven Seymour ( Alfred A. Knopf, 2017) "

― Vera Pavlova , Album for the Young (and Old): Poems

19 " Stăteam în fața oglinzii
învățându-mă a spune nu.
Nu. Nu. Nu.
Dar imaginea oglindită spunea:
da. "

― Vera Pavlova , Linia de ruptură

20 " Când sunt rege, mi se pare – cuvintele
sunt mult mai puține decât sensurile.
Când sunt vierme, mi se pare – cuvintele
sunt mult mai multe decât sensurile.
Când sunt rob, mi se pare – cuvintele
sunt la fel de puține ca și sensurile.
Când sunt zeu, mi se pare – Adam
încă nu a inventat cuvintele. "

― Vera Pavlova , Linia de ruptură

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