I’ll be back in a moment, she said,
and left the door open.
This was a special evening for us,
A rabbit stew simmering on the stove,
With chopped onion, sliced carrot
and garlic cloves.
She did not a coat with her
nor put lipstick on. I do not ask
where she is going.
This is how she is
She never has a sense
Of time,
Is always late for meetings,
So she said that night –
I’ll be right back;
And did not even close the door.
Six years later after that night
I meet her on different street from ours
And I think she was a little concerned
like someone who remembers
that they had forgotten to turn off the iron
or something like that…
Have you turned off the stove, she asks.
I have not, I say,
these rabbits are pretty tough.
The Love Rabbit, 2003
Georgi Gospodinov
Worked from the Bulgarian Любовният заек, 2003
Malcolm D B Munro
Thursday 14 April, 2016
Copyright of the original is retained by the Copyright owner. The Copyright of this Translation is vested with the Author. The original, from which this translation is made, is used under the provisions of Section 107 of the US Copyright Act 1976, which allows for fair use of the original for translation purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research.
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