Nina Cassian

Poems featured on The Gladdest Thing

Morning Exercises

I wake up and say: I’m through.
It’s my first thought at dawn.
What a nice way to start the day
with such a murderous thought.

God, take pity on me
—is the second thought, and then
I get out of bed
and live as if
nothing had been said.

— Nina Cassian
translated from the Romanian by Andrea Deletant and Brenda Walker

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