Cast Call by Tatiana Pahlen

Cast Call
By Tatiana Pahlen

Under the siege of friend's hoorays,
who kindly brought me a heated blanket,
I'm in bed for endless days
Encircled by jars with bitter tablets.

Mulling the puzzles of the Latin words,
I'm furious with a feral thermometer;
drafts are cooling my blazing face,
while I transmute words into meters.

Limericks drag my lenient guests,
all sympathetic to pompous ramble;
Foolishly, I throw the quest,
why snow looks so much like marble
and resembles a cumbersome cast,
that covers my leg from knee to ankle?

My shameless friends are showing no taste
writing names on it with their comments.

From the hospital bed I sense the thaw;
a breath of spring grasps the ice on my window,
when the balmy sun knocks at the door,
I'll get up and dash to the meadow.

First written in Russian 1983.
Translated into English July 1998.