Something has lit up your
Motherland. Whose eyes? What flock
of birds? Camplights?
Late summer eve and the freeway
insists its traffic through wind.
Rubbed off sound. Handfuls of
enjoyment coming and going.
Not the noise of barbed wire dragged
through snow, and not the dull
weight of concrete at Zone 4 Mordovia.
Irina Ratushinskaya, would this
have reached your last address
before your Russian God brought you
safe to England, and safely to
her hospitals, to the freeworld and a
million little decisions?
Handfuls of shouting reach out from
solitary confinement, your breath
amplifies and your words
bite warmth. Something has lit up
your Motherland.
Ирина Ратушинская освобождена
Что-то озарило
Родину. Чей взгляд? Какая
стая? Прожектора?
Лету конец, и трасса
упорствует собою против ветра.
Стертый звук. Горстями
радость издали и вдаль.
Не скрежет заграждения
по насту и не бремя
бетона на мордовской зоне.
Ирина Ратушинская, дойдет
ли это на последний адрес,
успеет ли ваш русский бог
перенести вас в Англию, в
больницы, в свободный мир,
к тьме крохотных решений?
Пригоршни крика крошатся
из одиночки, а дыханье
все шире, и слова грызут
тепло. Там что-то озарило
вашу Родину.
__________________
From Night of Warehouses: Poems 1978-2000 New Zealand: HeadworX Publishers (2001)
__________________
About Irina Ratshinskaya: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irina_Ratushinskaya
Stephen Oliver is an Australasian poet and voice artist who has also worked as a newsreader, a journalist, and a copy and feature writer. He has published more than 20 volumes of poetry, and his writing has appeared in a range of international journals and anthologies.
Max Nemtsov is a literary translator and editor.
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