The Moment

Alexander Maslenicin

The moment

The moment when, after many years
of hard work and a long voyage
you stand in the centre of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,

is the same moment the trees unloose
their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse,
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can’t breathe.

No, they whisper. You own nothing.
you were a visitor, time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way around.

Margaret Atwood

Friend, I have lost the way.

Pascal Houdart

The Way

Friend, I have lost the way.
The way leads on.
Is there another way?
The way is one.
I must retrace the track.
It’s lost and gone.
Back, I must travel back!
None goes there, none.
Then I’ll make here my place,
(The road runs on),
Stand still and set my face,
(The road leaps on),
Stay here, for ever stay.
None stays here, none.
I cannot find the way.
The way leads on.
Oh places I have passed!
That journey’s done.
And what will come at last?
The road leads on.

Edwin Muir

Vaporous

Alexey Titarenko

Vaporous

            by Gene H. Ghong

It was the wettest summer ever.
Our dreams with rain emulsified,
And the streets were luminous with them,
The young were talking about breathed breathing the future;
The old were immersed in memories.
The air was filled with steaming desires,
And then . . .
The bustle became faint,
And the streets were shrouded with blurs of memories.
It was the wettest summer ever,
Stained with regrets,
And yet pulling me back forever.

Have you forgotten?

Have You Forgotten?

Have you forgotten how one Summer night
We wandered forth together with the moon,
While warm winds hummed to us a sleepy tune?
Have you forgotten how you praised both light
And darkness; not embarrassed yet not quite
At ease? and how you said the glare of noon
Less pleased you than the stars? but very soon
You blushed, and seemed to doubt if you were right.
We wandered far and took no note of time;
Till on the air there came the distant call
Of church bells: we turned hastily, and yet
Ere we reached home sounded a second chime.
But what; have you indeed forgotten all?
Ah how then is it I cannot forget?

Christina Rossetti

No one would have dared.

Valery Tumbayev
______________________________

Crucifixion
Anna Akhmatova
Tr. by Judith Hemschemeyer

1

A choir of angels sang the praises of that momentous hour,
And the heavens dissolved in fire.
To his Father He said: “Why hast Thou forsaken me!”
And to his Mother: “Oh, do not weep for Me . . .”

2
Mary Magdalene beat her breast and sobbed,
The beloved disciple turned to stone,
But where the silent Mother stood, there
No one glanced and no one would have dared.