Istros director Susan Curtis-Kojakovic discusses Octavian Paler’s ‘Definitions’ at the Romanian Cultural Institute Booth – 2012 London Book Fair

We Have Time

In the absense of any ‘news’ to share with you, please take TIME to read this poem from the Istros Books publication, ‘Definitions’ by Octavian Paler.

We have time

 

We have time for everything. To sleep,

to rush in one direction and then another,

to regret our mistakes and then make them again,

to judge others and to absolve ourselves.

We have time to read and to write,

to correct what we have written, to regret what we have written,

we have time to make plans and not fulfil them,

we have time to create our dreams,

and later to scratch in their ashes.

We have time for ambitions and illness,

too blame fate and circumstance,

we have time to watch the clouds, to watch advertisements

 and everyday incidents,

we  have time to dismiss the questions,

and to postpone the answers,

we have time crush a dream and to recreate it,

we have time to make friends, and to lose them.

We have time for everything

Except for a little tenderness,

for when it’s time for this, we die.