I couldn’t wait for you, oh, Moon to grace the starry sky

So I could have someone to start a conversation

Could hardly wait for wind’s insanity to die

Could hardly wait for Sun to take a night’s vacation.

I waited for the birds to settle for the night,

To rest their wings, their strength restoring.

Their tiny eyes to close incautiously tight,

Their tiny hearts warmed up by dreams of soaring.

The happy souls will gain eternal peace

In tight embrace by sacred love anointed.

Night will belong to us and we’ll revel in bliss

In our dark abode by midnight stars appointed.

Let’s talk about the past, let’s share stories

From our lives we spent apart.

Recount adventures and forgotten worries

From olden times when love we once discovered.

Do you recall, oh, Moon, the dragging wait

In twilight, for your royal entrance?

The weeping of my heart in mourning state

Renounced by the love and yearning for acceptance?

Recall my eyes scorched by the dreadful pain,

Unable to behold the sight of someone dear,

They peered into darkness, all in vain

Discerning not what should have been so clear.

My lips were aching for his tender touch

To sooth the scorching heat of blazing passion.

Behold, oh, Moon, the wind is now awake,

The rose bush it ravishes with ardor

As if commiting it to die at stake

For some offense becoming of a martyr.

The wind can’t pardon rose’s blatant crime:

A flagrant disregard for his persona.

I fact, the rose was biding her sweet time

Awaiting Moon’s arrival.

The wind is blasting, brutal and severe,

It ravishes the petals like a savage,

As if it gives a damn for heart’s despair,

For tears pouring over cruel carnage.

Remember, Moon, the golden days of bliss?

I was in love, consumed by its desires.

Afraid to close my eyes so not to miss

A single spark of love’s eternal fire.

Excited, I was waiting for the night

To share my joy with your celestial presence,

And at the break of morning’s golden light

I told the flowers of my love’s great present.

And tears of joy were showering

Upon their petals.

My soul performed a dance of sheer joy

Upon the fluffy blanket of the clouds,

But my delight was very soon destroyed:

Love flew away and left me ever cowed.

My heart made loud and despairing moan,

Awaking birds, asleep in distant meadows,

And made them angry, since it wasn’t yet dawn,

They weren’t ready to come out of shadows.

My bitter tears woke up the sleeping wind:

Its angry howl awakened sleepy hollow.

It tore on leaves and twisted branches skinned,

Then blew away, departing night to follow.

“Rejoice, you, leaves, still hanging on the trees,

Your time has not yet come”, - the echo blared.

Rain spilled the tears to fill the low seas,

By Summer’s scourch ferociously seared.

“The Sun will rise again and warm your heart,

The Spring will bloom, old wounds will heal,” - I hear

The whispering of raindrops, it’s a start

Of something that I hold so sacred and so dear.

You hear, Moon, all this had come to pass,

A lot of words were said, but none expressed it:

The time will come for love to die, alas,

It will become too deadly to possess it.

Sun rays will never penetrate the dark

Of somber heart that’s icy and deserted.

It won’t let in God’s warm and shiny spark

Forever staying to the love alerted.

My eyes will step up their search for you,

In awe awaiting your majestic entrance.

Perhaps, my presence here is overdue,

Perhaps I should accept my sad repentance.

The time has come to leave my neigborhood,

Collect my sore memories and tokens

Move closer to you, for real, for good,

What say you, Moon? Enough said, I have spoken.

By Liana Margiva

Translated from Russian by Anatol Kardiukov