The walls are closing in in mournful silence
Away they chase you from your dark abode
To Kingdom of the Night where trees
Line up the streets like silent knights
To keep you quiet company.

Remembering the solitude of Autumn
That stripped the foliage, their nakedness revealed.
They wish to lengthen the repose of birds.
But hours tiptoe by, and now behold!
Unable to endure your somber grief,
They come awake and wake the birds that sing
An ode to you and praise eternal Life!

A life that's filled with Sun which often failed
To cuddle and warm up your sullen soul,
A life where summer breeze is like love's breath,
The very Love that has rejected you.

The birds remember rivers' springtime rise
Their mighty waters flooding farms and towns,
And their sad demise as floods recede
Dried out by the Sun and birds can hear
The sad song of the rivers that bemoan
Their former might when waters ran so fast
Competing with wild horses' crazy dash.

The rivers cry, unable to shed a tear,
For happiness they once possessed.
The birds know it all, but do not comprehend
Why one would wait for them
In shadows of dark yard.

Behold, the clouds gathered in the sky
And spiteful thunder cracked
To stifle muffled cry of lonely soul.
The stars shone brightly to avoid disgrace
Their failure to dispel the sadness in your eyes
Which was but the reflection of your soul
That spent its time in mournful solitude!

In deep of night the rain will fall on trees
And rush to wash the dust from drowsy leaves
So lovers’ sleeping in a sweet embrace
When Sun returns enjoy a blissful gaze.

Meanwhile our voyager still roams the yard,
And mourns her love that died in days of yore.
The wind had failed to dry up all her tears,
They seeped into her heart and only He,
To whom she pledged her love could dry the tears
From her tormented soul, alas, he never came!

Life flows like a river, and it’s finite:
Like water that before was gently flowing
Touched by the Sun turns into weightless vapor
And wafts away into the endless yonder.

But Sun will rule the sky for eons longer
And stars will still be gracing Night’s dark shawl,
And birds will still sing odes in morning stillness
When lonely soul will leave the wretched Earth
And take its love along to dwell in Heaven.

The walls of house protect the solemn silence
Which seldom is disturbed by moans of poets
Who outlived the ages of seclusion.
From yellowed pages scream in agony
The ones who were committed to the dungeons
Of merciless and evil Solitude.
Imprisoned with no parole they were granted
Eternal life on Earth.

By  Liana  Margiva

Translated from Russian by Anatol  Kardiukov