6.11.2022

worn through

A strange kind of wish we have here, 
to grasp at a moment’s picture 
of a tomtit, a cloud, or a deer, 
then flick through our pages even quicker. 
 
My only begotten, are you 
a calfskin scroll, worn through, 
or writing scratched on clay 
that’s starting to crumble away? 
 
But maybe at least a page, 
a verse or a word will be saved 
among the ash and dry dust. 
From the skies, fire falls in waves, 
mute, and talking in tongues. 
 
Not knowing its worth, 
the Creator sets fire 
to His earth 
so often you can’t keep up. 
He turns our pages in the wind. 
He doesn’t stop. 
He doesn’t tire. 
 
[Nadezhda Chernova {1947-?}, 'My Only Begotten', trans. from the Russian by Alistair Noon]

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