Lev Detela
AN ELEPHANT
An Elephant
A circus elephant does acrobatics,
a Viennese elephant, the audience's favorite,
big-eared elephant on the trapeze,
a monstrous elephant whose strength
increases,
an elephant as fat than the greatest whale,
an elephant larger than the world,
an elephant with compassionate eyes,
an elephant that survives our time.
Caves
Great caves
swallow wide valleys.
At night bears stand in front of them
and stare at you with burning eyes.
The caves yawn in the darkness
but don't offer shelter in storms
since the bears lurk at their mouths
looking for prey in the night.
The world is distorted by caves.
Everyone is a prisoner
in his own cave.
Translated from Slovenian by Herbert Kuhner