Originally posted in Penseo issue 288, in response to the death of a friend of mine, “Queen Sophia”. An English translation follows below it.
—laŭ ĉinesko Dekses-Silabo
Vi
en sinmorta agoni’
konsilis,
“Postvivu por mi.”
Jam
ĉesis pensi vi pri sam’
inter ni.
Kial vi ne, Dam’?
Vin
mi bezonis, amikin’.
Vi estis
mia insulin’.
Cel’
ne ŝanĝiĝos, ho Abel’
Reĝina,
sed mankos miel’.
English translation:
For Sophia
You
in suicidal agony
advised,
“Survive for me.”
Already
you stopped thinking of the sameness
between us.
Why not you, Queen?*
You
were what I needed, friend.
You were
my insuline.
The goal
won’t change, Queen
Bee,
but there’ll be no honey.
* In Esperanto, “damo” is a queen in the sense of a chess piece or card figure, but “reĝino” (queen in the general sense) is a synonym.