Long time ago my Spring did bloom

And fire of love had not yet spelled my doom.

Like flower opens to the Sun above

To soak in its warmth, I opened to love.

Same as a dying flower yearns for rain,

I yearned for love, blood boiling in my veins.

Insanely craving sizzling, fierce love,

Beneath night sky festooned with stars above.

I wished for love to wake me up at dawn,

And tears of joy in sleepy eyes would spawn.

Like heavy droplets of the dew they’d run

Down rose petals warmed by morning Sun.

I miss the time when my carousing youth

Brought out in me the ideas most uncouth.

I miss the days when air teemed with love

And vibes of bliss descended from above.

I knew not then that after Sun’s grand ball

The rains of misery on sinful Earth would fall.

The petals fold, their fragrance washed away,

Exposing thorns, invisible by day.

Thorns that would rip my tender, beating flesh

And make hot blood from gaping wounds to gush.

Extinguishing the life within the heart

That didn’t want to live with love apart.

Love would incinerate heart’s bloodless flesh

Like rose petals Summer heat would crash.

The pain will rip to shreds the lifeless heart

Like black hole tearing whole words apart.

The rains of tears would then begin to fall

The ones that bring the feared un-love to all.

In my naive and now distant youth

I never knew one day the misery would settle deep inside

Like in its own home

Forever from the joy of life to hide.

Love would abandon my enchanted dreams

Like flowers’ fragrance that from gardens streams

Picked up by winds that carry it away.

By Liana Margiva

Translated from Russian by Anatol Kardiukov