Emenius Sleepus

EPHEMERA

Tomorrow we shall perish

In the drapery of snows

Amidst the haunt

Of frozen temples

In landscapes white and still

Where life has ceased

Like all of us shall be

Where even flight of shadows

Is halted by the frost

In its eternal end

The endless seas of white

They skirt the shores

Of islands that are glassy branches

Of these lamented woods

The echoes of our past

The silent woods of prey

They hide decay in their icy breath…

And stillness,

Unperturbed,

Forever holds its reign

Atop of broken lands

Where once the mighty empires

Disintegrated into scraps of ashes

And slowly floating, falling

To the silent ground.

As snowstorms wash the vacant fields

From wounds of battle.

The morose flakes,

Like pages torn apart

Descending onto blackened streaks

Of frozen earth,

And quiet there will be,

In majesty eternal

I

Carving blooms

Thorn paths in my flesh

Ornaments of decay

Spilling inner light

To make me numb

To make me sleep

A brand of gloom

To submerge deeper

                                    Into dissolution…

As time flows, I flow away…

II

To face throne of nihil

And let its eyes embrace me

And unravel my brittle grains

Of shattered consciousness

To fall further beneath

Than I’ve ever fallen

Думи мої, думи мої,
Лихо мені з вами!
Нащо стали на папері
Сумними рядами?..
чом вас вітер не розвіяв
В степу, як пилину?
Чом вас лихо не приспало,
Як свою дитину?..
Бо вас лихо на світ на сміх породило,
Поливали сльози... чом не затопили,
Не винесли в море, не розмили в полі?..
Не питали б люди - що в мене болить?
Не питали б, за що проклинаю долю,
Чого нуджу світом? "Нічого робить"...

Taras Shevchenko (Ukrainian Folk Poet)

Excerpt from “My Musings”