Norbert Bugeja

Awtomatika Għall-Bnedmin

Awtomatika Għall-Bnedmin, qaluli:
Haddimha sew, il-bqija m’għandhiex bżonnok.
Tikk bum tikk bum issabbat u tistampa
Abbiss battal jespandi ġewwa moħħok;
Kull bott issiġillat jaħżen elf ġrajja
Misruqa minn ringieli ta’ memorji.
Bixritha tibqa’ hekk. Għajnejha jsegwu
ċ-ċekċik tal-katina, jittantaw jilħqu
l-qofol tar-rutina, jonogħsu, jogħtru
f’telfien it-taħnina. Tikk bum il-lum tikk
bum għada w pitgħada, sal-jum misħut li
fih l-imgwanti raw id-dmija ... u jibki
r-ritratt mitfi, imtertaq fil-portmoni:
“Mama mama titlaqx - int biss għalija.”

CAFÈ JUBILEE, A PICTURE

I recollect each shot choking in sorrow,
and this small place turn into a black shriek
when you came in, and with your usual haste
downed every mournful glass you were offered
and let them all, story after sad story
melt into your frame¹s unruly discourse.
Bailamos, let the rhythm take you over
bailamos, accompanies the wheezing Paul
making the most of his last year of dancefloor
and puking by the woman who had dumped him.
Amidst crowds of untold stories he found you
dancing, made you, for an instant, his idol:
this woman clad in a black salsa, dancing
an untamed prayer amid the solitude,
as coy and lengthy as el greco¹s crying
after the tears he was afraid of painting.
Drawn out, my friend, drawn out¹s my buddy¹s pathway;
reaching your gaze took half an hour¹s limping,
to watch the prancing pigtails in the courtyard,
the thousand nameless souls roving your eyes.

Xogħlijiet ta’ Norbert Bugeja dehru fl-antoloġiji ta’ Inizjamed.