MUBI

Winter, don’t ever be over. So that Spring

never has to show up, and no armies can

come marching in on us, while they’re still waiting for Spring. Wild

forest creatures will stay calm asleep, dreaming of

utopia.

Winter, don’t ever be over. All will stay shut in

at home, sleeping all the while, with the vile evildoers, tramps

and wheeler dealers all frozen stiff, all will be drinking

with prostitutes, like children in their innocence

until the Spring,
                        
which is never to come.

Don’t show up, Spring. Keep all your

blossoms, smells, kisses and crusts -
I want to stay calmly drinking my wine

with old friends – while it’s still winter,

while the armies haven’t marched in yet -

O snow, keep on snowing, as deep, impenetrable,

cold, as in the winter of 1812,

until it’s Spring,
                        
that’s never to come.
 

by Jonas Mekas
translated, from Lithuanian, by Vyt Bakaitis