***

and ever so slowly looms

the darkest night on earth

and cloaks my only window

and cloaks with green eyes

cloaks the trampled red grass

which seemed like a wounded bird to me

a bird that just could not take flight

night cloaks the dried-out tree with its hands

and cloaks the scorching sun with its lips

and cloaks with deliberate words

a sad, sad melody

and now I see nothing but that night

I only hear how somewhere far-far away

beyond its eyes

beyond its arms

beyond its lips

suddenly the red grass purls its wings

and hovers above us for a while

Translated by Mark Andryczyk with Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj