András Ferenc Kovács was born in 1959 in Satu Mare in Roumania. Himself a poet, translator and a leading figure of the Fourth generation of writers “Forrás” (The Spring), he works as an editor of poetry pages in the magazine Látó in Tirgu-Mures in Transylvania. His post-modern, highly formalistic poems were published in a number of collections and include: The Lessons of Henrik the Sailor (1983), Moving (1993), Throwing Dice for Your Soul (1994), Angels in the Advent Snow (1998). “I feel freed by form,” he says. “Its ties and limitations make you think and create in a totally different and surprisingly rich language, coming to you through new and often unknown channels.” András Ferenc Kovács received the Roumanian Writers Union Prize in 1983 and Tibor Déry Award in 1992.
Christophorus singing
I’d carry you upon my shoulders
across the fury of deep waters
give me your strength in wild currents
I’d carry you upon my shoulders
as nightly sky its star so bright
as summer breeze its sweetest scents
as springtime twig its tender shoot
across the rush of quick waters
you are like pain, my only loot,
I’d carry you upon my shoulders
keep me steady in dark currents
across the rush of quick waters
as fate supports the universe
as springtime twig its tender shoot
you’re keeper of my mortal curse
before pain could outgrow childhood
I’d carry you upon my shoulders
across the fury of deep waters
keep me steady in dark currents
I’d carry you upon my shoulders
as blood vessels all heart movements
as springtime twig its tender shoot
I’d carry you upon my shoulders
when pain, that deepest human root
into nothing suddenly fades
across the fury of quick waters
help me from sin’s cold grip evade
across the fury of dark waters
smoothed as a rock becoming boulder
I’d carry you upon my shoulders
as imperfection bears its load of good
as springtime twig its tender shoot
as summer breeze the scent of hay
and blindest void the hope of day
I’d carry you upon my shoulders
across the fury of deep waters
give me your strength in wild currents
I’d carry you upon my shoulders
as nightly sky its star so bright
as summer breeze its sweetest scents
as springtime twig its tender shoot
across the rush of quick waters
you are like pain, my only loot,
I’d carry you upon my shoulders
keep me steady in dark currents
across the rush of quick waters
as fate supports the universe
as springtime twig its tender shoot
you’re keeper of my mortal curse
before pain could outgrow childhood
I’d carry you upon my shoulders
across the fury of deep waters
keep me steady in dark currents
I’d carry you upon my shoulders
as blood vessels all heart movements
as springtime twig its tender shoot
I’d carry you upon my shoulders
when pain, that deepest human root
into nothing suddenly fades
across the fury of quick waters
help me from sin’s cold grip evade
across the fury of dark waters
smoothed as a rock becoming boulder
I’d carry you upon my shoulders
as imperfection bears its load of good
as springtime twig its tender shoot
as summer breeze the scent of hay
and blindest void the hope of day