Language: Russian
Poet: Dmitry Blizniuk
Translator: Sergey Gerasimov
Region: Ukraine
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Look at us, Eternity
A poem by Dmitry Blizniuk, translated from Russian by Sergey Gerasimov
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вечность проплывает мимо –
величественно и презрительно, как гренландский кит.
эти брызги, минуты, секунды,
смотри – они твои,
нищая форма жизни.
но я улыбнусь –
на ваших прочных космических крейсерах
“миллионолетья”
никого нет, а звезды бессмысленны,
ядерные плевки.
все планеты сногсшибательно мертвы и ядовиты.
смотри же, вечность, на нашем утлом плоту
из плоти, кредиток и быстрых слов –
кипит жизнь, борщ и любовь…
Eternity Sailing Past
Majestic and contemptuous like a great polar whale,
eternity is sailing past…
All these splashes: minutes or seconds, look, they are yours…
A destitute form of life…
But I’ll just smile—on your solid space cruisers,
called “millions of years,”
there is no one,
and the stars, drops of nuclear spittle, are pointless.
All planets are stunningly dead
and poisonous.
Look at us, Eternity.
See? On our flimsy raft made of flesh, credit cards, and evanescent words,
boils life and borsch and love…
Dmitry Blizniuk is a poet from Ukraine. His most recent poems have appeared in Rattle, The Nation, Prairie Schooner, Denver Quarterly, The London Magazine, Guernica, Plume, Pl
Sergey Gerasimov is a Ukraine-based writer, poet, and translator of poetry. Among other things, he has studied psychology. He is the author of several academic articles on cognitive activity. When he is not writing, he leads a simple life of teaching, playing tennis, and kayaking down beautiful Ukrainian rivers. His stories and poems written in English have appeared in Adbusters, Clarkesworld Magazine, Strange Horizons, J Journal, The Bitter Oleander, and Acumen, among many others. His last book is Oasis, published by Gypsy Shadow. The poetry he translated has been nominated for several Pushcart Prizes.
