Vera Pavlova
Heaven and Earth
You began with the heavens
formed from the primitive darkness
as an ice-breaker breaks ice
You began with heaven and earth
when darkness was over the earth
and might have overwhelmed it
if you had not made both
And the spirit of God
moved on the face of waters
uncreated, still distant
and the rusty firmament
rose above the waters
before it was time
and disbelieved it was, in fact,
a mountain on dry land, as in the book
because the book
dissolves into the dark
original waters as before
and does not
reflect His face
and there is no Law
and the burden of eternal night
drags on, until the awful moment
when, through the universe,
explodes the light.
Translated by Maura DooleyTerence Dooley
Page(s) 149
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