Lithuania (Ii) Poem by Janina Degutyte

I walked into the snowy midnight
to bow to the earth and to the sky.

And in that silvery point in space
where winds and ages meet,
the snowflakes fall and the seconds fall
on my hair, on my palms,
and they burn like salt
and fetter my feet
with white enduring ropes.
But I will not leave.
In this silvery point in space
where behind my shoulder breathe houses and trees,
where snowflakes and seconds sink
into my palms
and into my heart, -
there, in red letters,
silently, I shall write
in the snow
one name, that one name:

Lietuva

I walked into the snowy midnight
to bow to the earth and to the sky.