Polina Barskova
Prayer II
Oh, Lord, look down yonder and bestow upon me your sorrow
On this glittering noon, on this transparent night,
For I have already forgotten how it happens,
How I and my beloved girl friend, descending into silence,
Would scrape the inside of the can of sweet condensed milk with an
ancient teaspoon, a family heirloom,
While at the Liteinyi Avenue the street car’s thunder would
grow out of bounds.
How we’d put on warmer things and would walk to the Garden
Shouting from time to time at that crazy smiling dog,
Which would waylay the duck and her caravan of ducklings.
How, having had gotten to the canal, we would skirt the fence.
How we’d move forward, groping in the autumnal murk.
How my life seemed to me then
Copied from yours, written for you.
How did we joke, without remorse, about our lovers,
Almost not remembering their faces, mixing up their names.
We would joke in the same way about our deceased
Who had abandoned us here, having left us to . . .
Then we’d take our time putting the kettle on the stove,
cutting the cheese and the loaf of bread,
Opening Poplavski on the page with the longest poem.
The dog would close her eyes, happy, remembering the walk
And the waves on the river feverishly tossing because of the flood
Translated by Peter FranceVladimir Bolotnikov and Eric Crawford
Page(s) 32
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