A letter to a Roman friend

Laurel leaves so green they shiver on the branches Door ajar, a dusty window, distant shoreline An abandoned chair, a bed, two lonely benches, Simple fabric that’s absorbed the midday sunshine… Pontus heaving just beyond stone-pine hedgerow. At the cape, a ship and winds engaged in battle. On a weathered stump, - the Elder Pliny’s shadow. In a cypress shag, a blackbird’s chirpy prattle. March 1972 Joseph Brodsky (Gennady Pritsker, translation) A Baltic variant of letters to a Roman friend Inscription on the chair What keeps hearts from falseness in this flat region 
is that there is nowhere to hide and plenty of room for vision