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Only at dusk do eyes really begin to see

Only at dusk do eyes really begin to see Only at dusk do eyes really begin to see. The colours of flowers become lucid and bright before night extinguishes them: carnations, yellow roses, meadow-vetch and buttercups. The wind has died down and the sky -- the faded, nearly invisible background of all our comings and goings -- is suddenly here, just above the treetops and pylons, shining through foliage and above the roof of the house in all its depth and blueness. Behind the outhouse Venus appears; to the right of the pole of the well, Jupiter: once two gods, now two stars. Jaan Kaplinski translated by Fiona Sampson Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Jaan Kaplinski, Selected Poems, translated by Jaan Kaplinski, Sam Hamill, Hildi Hawkins and Fiona Sampson (2011)

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