All day she plays at chess with the bones of the world:
Favored (while suddenly the rains begin
Beyond the window) she lies on cushions curled
And nibbles an occasional bonbon of sin.
Prim, pink-breasted, feminine, she nurses
Chocolate fancies in rose-papered rooms
Where polished higboys whisper creaking curses
And hothouse roses shed immortal blooms.
The garnets on her fingers twinkle quick
And blood reflects across the manuscript;
She muses on the odor, sweet and sick,
Of festering gardenias in a crypt,
And lost in subtle metaphor, retreats
From gray child faces crying in the streets.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
The language of Plath is fresh as ever, metaphors are very precise and impressive. To muse of the sweet and sick odor of decay, festering gardenias in a cryp. Oh sordid eloquence. Her craftsmanship is especially visible in this poem. It's a shame it is read only by the computer here.