Raisa Reznik. Four Poems. Translated by Ilya Shambat

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Raisa Reznik. Four Poems. Translated by Ilya Shambat

* * *
 
My god, from the stories of my mother,

This is horror, this is mad:

“Father returned in 38th winter,

Yellow and gray-haired.”

 
My god, from the stories of my mother,

This is horror, this is mad:

“Father returned in 38th winter,

Yellow and gray-haired.”
 

Not a word about the dither.

I signed the oath, can’t violate the oath!

This way I see the father of the mother,

A granddad I never saw.
 

He was not broken by torture in jail

Not finished off with interrogations

In the summer, he was found and killed

From a car thrown many times.
 

* * *
 
As custom, I write on the sheets –

What I feel, what I breathe.

 
I will mark on them step after step –

Rustling of the current days.

Leaves go mad, and the grass

With itself drowns out the words.
 

Smoothly, in style of Ushe, with no hurry,

Here for keeping I won’t make the sounds.

It will be joyful for the poor soul

To come alive on the sharp turn,
 

Where the leaves do not shake the right,

Only music of wind is alive.
 

***
 
Why did you, having scrolled through so many years,

As before, are hurrying to trains,

Not so that to be in separate coupe…

Sing with rain, the second week…
 

Sleep under the knocking of wheels,

Tomorrow suddenly, tomorrow suddenly…

Will change for the best

This life’s bend…
 

Wait, wait, wait,

Will cease slanting rains.
 

* * *
 
It’s under the mask, invisible,

It lurked and went quiet.

Mist, the fog’s veil –

Poem known to no one.
 

Sound in sleep’s crackling –

About what? About whom?

Re-chanting, re-ringing,

Re-first, re-com.
 

The Originals
 

Из рассказов мамы, бог мой,

эта жуть, этот бред:

«отец вернулся в 38-м зимой,

желт и сед.»
 

О заключении — ни словца.

Дал подписку, не нарушай обета!

Таким и вижу я маминого отца,

не увидавшего меня деда.
 

Пытками в тюрьме не сломили,

не доконали допросами.

Летом нашли его и убили,

с машины многажды сбросили.
 

На станции Хащеватая

8-го августа 39-го.

Та же банда проклятая.
 

15 марта 2021
 
* * *
 

На листах, по старинке, пишу—

то, что чувствую, то, чем дышу.
 

Шаг за шагом отмечу на ней—

шелестение нынешних дней.

Куролесит листва, а трава

заглушает собою слова.
 

Плавно, в стиле Ушу, не спешу,

звуки здесь на храненье сложу.

Будет радостно бедной душе

оживать на крутом вираже,
 

где листва не качает права,

только музыка ветра жива.
 

4 июня 2023
 

* * *
 
Что же ты, столько лет пролистав,

точно прежде, спешишь к поездам,

не затем, чтоб в купе быть отдельном…

Пой с дождем, что вторую неделю…
 

Помечтай под колёс перестук,

завтра вдруг, завтра вдруг, завтра вдруг…

Переменится к лучшему

эта жизни излучина…
 

Подожди, подожди, подожди,

прекратятся косые дожди.
 

Февраль 2004
 
* * *
 

Он под маской, невидимка,

притаился и затих.

Пелена тумана, дымка—

никому не слышный стих.
 

Звук в потрескиванье сонном—

а o чeм он? И о ком?

перепевом, перезвоном,

пере-первый, пeре-ком.
 

10 апреля-11 мая 2020

About the Author:

photo Raisa Reznik(1)
Raisa Reznik
San Jose, CA

Raisa Reznik was born in Odessa (1948). A poet and editor of Svyaz vremyon (Связь времен), an annual almanac of Russian poetry, Raisa graduated from the Vinnitsa Pedagogical Institute and taught English in schools in Ukraine and Moldova. She emigrated to the US in 1994. Her poetry books include Na kraiu (1997, a bilingual edition), O glavnom i vechnom (1997), and A Point of Support (1999). Her poetry was published in many Russian literary magazines such as Ural, Vstrechi, Poberezh’e, Den’ poezii, etc.

About the Translator:

Ilya Shambat
Ilya Shambat
Australia

Ilya Shambat was born in the former Soviet Union and started writing poetry at age 10. When he was 12, he moved to America; when he was 18, he finished the University of Virginia. Ilya has translated a vast body of Russian poetry into English, including the complete body of poetry by Marina Tsvetayeva and Igor Severyanin. He is currently residing in Australia, where he is raising a family. You can read Ilya’s translations on his site https://sites.google.com/site/ibshambat/translations-of-classical-russian-poets-by-ilya-shambat.

Raisa Reznik Раиса Резник
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