***
Falling forest
falling human
falling autumn
falling
as the Oskil falls into the Siverskiy Donets
two rivers clogging my throat
penetrating
like light between the leaves
gathering
like red currants
She pulls
a pink fleece throw
over her slender little shoulders
peering through the window
watching how the darkness swallows buildings
how porous substances swallow gas
how darkness swallows the sun
swallows the clouds
swallows the birds
swallows a human
swallows the sky
dangling from a little curl
like a hooked fish
she drinks slightly bitter
jasmine tea
cupping the mug in her tiny palms
Maybe
I’m tea
or black sunflowers not yet harvested
monks of the meadows and friars of the forest
or soil
or falling leaves
or falling wind
or a falling nut
or the falling meteorite
that killed all the dinosaurs
or a falling spent gun magazine
or snow
or a cut-down tree
or a dirty legwrap of sky
I am autumn
you’re autumn
he she it they are
autumn
Cuddle up to me
I’m not the doors of the underground train
let me in
I have a travel card
into the pocket of your pale-pink down jacket
where I’ll curl up and fall asleep
And you
let me go
in spring
how kites are let go
how herds of goat are let go to pasture
how a young rock-star lets go his auburn hair
let go
I
don’t want to become winter
you
don’t want to become winter
he she it they
don’t want to become winter
I want to stay in the pocket
of your pale-pink down jacket,
deal?
Until spring.
Translated by John Farndon and Nataliya Yaroshenko from: Maksym Krvytsov, Вірші з бійниці: Поезії (Nash Format, 2024), pp. 31–33.
