Boris Ryzhy
Ballad
In the Urals in the town of Kurgan
on Miners’ Day, or Airforce Day
Comrade Kaganovich pointed
at my Grandad with his gun.
My Grandad went out of his room
into a corridor of blue like the sky.
A car, black, a foreign one,
drove past the banners, leaders’ profiles.
Past all the living, the living and dead,
through the woods, the rivers, and ages.
And on the wings, convex, black,
the dark blue clouds were reflected.
Where and beneath what clouds,
a faint image, but it must come to pass,
will I one day embrace him
in my thin childish arms?
on Miners’ Day, or Airforce Day
Comrade Kaganovich pointed
at my Grandad with his gun.
My Grandad went out of his room
into a corridor of blue like the sky.
A car, black, a foreign one,
drove past the banners, leaders’ profiles.
Past all the living, the living and dead,
through the woods, the rivers, and ages.
And on the wings, convex, black,
the dark blue clouds were reflected.
Where and beneath what clouds,
a faint image, but it must come to pass,
will I one day embrace him
in my thin childish arms?
Translated by Sasha Dugdale
Page(s) 39
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