You can burn paper through over-great longing
You can burn paper through over-great longing.
Scarcely masking the flame of desire with a smile.
Feasting my eyes, I burnt all your photographs –
Every shred and trace of your existence.
But you’ll never know about this.
I laugh softly – this is like a song for me,
A narrow street, where Yes has been overtaken
And the traffic is flowing in a negative direction .
I laugh softly – and cities echo me,
The dishes are in the cupboard, and ash wafts around the house.
But you’ll never know about this.
The day is dazzlingly empty and bright.
[1990]
Tabachnikova writes: “I live in Bath, or rather between Bath and Kharkov, as I never quite left my home town in my heart. I found Britain temperamentally very different from what I was used to, and living here almost a challenge.”
Translated by Daniel Weissbort
Page(s) 262
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