Transitions №6
Author: Dmitry Strotsev
Translated by Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya
*
even if we won’t meet again
we have already met
we won’t go to heaven now
we’ve gone to heaven
and we won’t get drunk anymore
we are so drunk already
and we won’t stop singing
over the abyss of war
*
in supermarkets
the shelves are getting empty
something completely new
Europe
beats like a mother’s heart
boils like one anthill
one refugee camp
something completely new is appearing
Chernihiv Mariupol Kharkiv Mikolaev
Ukrainian cities
before our eyes are turning into ruins
Ukraine has been bleeding for twenty days
under the rubble of hospitals and maternity clinics
on battlefields
it loses its children
does not give up
fights the enemy to the death
for honour and freedom
for life
something completely new is appearing
before our eyes
*
we have a talk with Ukrainians
in Zoom
about military everyday life
about lectures during the war
about the unbearable momental eternity
Igor Chernyavsky
holds a violin in the US Congress
and in a Kharkiv multistorey building
between missile strikes
simultaneously
about the angelic army
and Ukrainian soldiers
standing
shoulder to shoulder
about Rameau, a composer, and Peguy, a poet
about hope
*
where have I been for the eight years
where have I been for the last fifteen years
i was screaming
i stood next to you and was screaming
screaming
about the Russian invasion of Georgia
about the Russian annexation of Ukrainian Crimea
about the war in Donbass
about the sacrifice of Belarus
for the military strategic needs
i was screaming
the same and on the same place i stand there and am screaming
about the world of bored people
about the futility of a lasting truce
about the lingering smell of fear and blood
about the dreamy desire to kill
about the hope of war
i was screaming
about the betrayal of Life
as many more years as I am given
i will be screaming
*
Dima
you resemble your mom very much
i want to tell you this
a quiet face
and careful look
you look
from the friends’ walls
from everywhere
quiet sides of the Dnieper
embrace your city
Kyiv was not taken
during the month of the war
harsh battles are all around
shelling and bombing
Russian tanks are on fire
and the heart beats on the Podol
at Andriivsky Descent
in Sofia
there is prayer and light
you have fought
you sacrificed your life
at twenty five years old
quiet sighs of love
and pain
Alla
I want to tell you
Dima resembles you very much
*
Goya
for twelve years
portrayed the disasters of war
using the technique of etching
to show the world
the fury of the people’s uprising
the atrocities of the Napoleon’s soldiers
the famine in besieged Madrid
despair of defeat
because there was no photo yet
Picasso
during a month literally
working twelve hours a day
painted a gigantic canvas
in the style of monumental cubism
for the Paris World Exhibition
about the tragedy of the Spanish war
to shout out to the world
about the sadistic bombarding of Guernica
by the legionnaires of the fascist Luftwaffe
about the thousands of bombs dropped there
about thousands of people under rubble
about three days of the fire
because there was no internet yet during that time
today
anonymous testimonies about the war
documentary photos and videos
overtake artistic expression
they get to facebook and youtube
immediately
by lighting in their smartphones
Ukrainian towns and suburbs
by scattering weeks-long corpses in the streets
by piling up the pyramids of destroyed armoured vehicles
by bringing in the Russian mobile
crematoria
what else could an artist do?
to the world
whisper the names in silence
Bucha
Irpin
Borodyanka
Kramatorsk
Ukraine
*
under the heart of Mary
in the mother’s womb
are your children
Mariupol
*
Belarusian refugees
meet Ukrainian refugees
on Polish railway stations
the relay race of violence
the relay race of suffering
the relay race of love