Girls with cherried lips are dancing the Beginning. The indiscreet
flare of a minuet lights their bodies, and spectators instinctively
step back for fear of turning to ash. Outlines
change in an instant: extending their flutters they
become the sign of spring that determines peace, and history
loses its great seal.

Girls with cherried lips, frail as willows,
lose the laces binding them, and spectators glimpse the sun
sliding down their knees. Divine bodies with a smell of
the north, unfit for any anatomical atlas,

or any niche where plaster Venuses display
ordinary boredom with their longing for pet names and
tobacco. Girls with growing shadows under their lids are dancing
life: goblets full of the past, old still-lives,
the scent of swamps waded in childhood. angels, aged
cherry orchards, sunsets. Finally, they bow to the audience. And yet
this exact replica of moonlight has managed so slyly to fool
our eyes, we are left incapable of perceiving any change.

the cold abolishes all play with a ban on
music, body radiance, allocating use of light and beauty
only the slimmest ration, according to
decree. And history, the slut with plucked
eyebrows, claims to have vanquished nature:
lips no longer smell of cherries.

Translated by Vyt Bakaitis

MergaitÄ—s vyŁ¡niuotom lŁ«pom Ł¡oka PradŁ¾ią. Neatsargi
menueto ugnis padega kŁ«nus, ir Ł¾iŁ«rovai nejučiom
Ł¾engia Ł¾ingsnį atgal, bijodami tapti pelenu. Pavidalai
mainos akimirksniu: prilaikydamos plazdančias jos
virsta pavasario Ł¾enklu, lemiančiu taiką, ir istorija
pameta savo didįjį antspaudą.

MergaitÄ—s vyŁ¡niuotom lŁ«pom, gleŁ¾nos kaip karklas,
pameta strÄ—nŁ³ raiŁ¡Äius, ir Ł¾iŁ«rovai iŁ¡vysta saulę
slystant jŁ³ keliais. DieviŁ¡ki kŁ«nai, kvepiantys
Ł¡iaure, netinka nÄ— vienam anatomijos atlasui,
nÄ— vienai niŁ¡ai, kur paprastai nuobodŁ¾iauja
gipsinÄ—s veneros, pasiilgusios pravardŁ¾iŁ³ ir

tabako. MergaitÄ—s tamsÄ—jančiais poakiais Ł¡oka
gyvenimą: taures, pilnas praeities, senus natiurmortus,
pelkiŁ³, braidytŁ³ vaikystÄ—je, kvapą. Angelus, pasenusius
vyŁ¡nynus, sambrÄ—Ł¡kas. Galop lenkiasi publikai. Tačiau
tiksli mÄ—nesienos kopija taip vikriai geba apgauti
mŁ«sŁ³ akis, jog mes nebesugebam pajusti pasikeitimo.

Ł altis panaikina visus Ł¾aidimus, uŁ¾drausdamas
muziką, kŁ«nŁ³ spindesį, leisdamas Ł¡viesą ir groŁ¾Ä¯
vartoti maŁ¾iausiais kiekiais, kiek to reikalauja
įstatymas. Ir istorija, pasileidÄ—lÄ— iŁ¡peŁ¡iotais
antakiais, tariasi nugalÄ—jusi gamtą:
lŁ«pos nebekvepia vyŁ¡niom