Borys Oliynyk Poems

She richly sowed cornfields of life
with the years of her living,
Bowed low to the earth,
in the steppe gathered slow swaying grasses,
...

I flew off like a handsome devil
On my steed as black as night -
White foam fell from him like snow-flakes -
Ah!
...

From where the ages sleep
in tombs along the Nile,
From jungles tropical
where blooms the tamarisk -
...

The years now no longer speed by
as wild horses swift run,
Like camels in sands of Morocco they wander at leisure…
More easy to catch sincere lying that here so abounds,
...

I'd have always lain peaceful as ages past by,
Would have turned into dust long ago.
But a witch of a maid on the cliff poses high,
Tightly swathed by the winds that blow.
...

I am in debt,
that I was born Ukrainian:
That fate was in merry mood, when oft she sings,
And has bestowed on me the earth and water,
...

***

All around just as it should be:
evening falls, the distance fades.
...

On jagged rocks they bound him in duress:
The wrath of gods would brook no dispensation -
Because he gave, in throes of righteousness,
To people - Fire - but gave for good intentions.
...