Ivan Malkovych

Ivan Malkovych Poems

Ivan Malkovych Biography

An Ukrainian poet and publisher, Ivan Malkovych was born on May 10, 1961 in Nyzhniy Bereziv (Ivano-Frankivsk oblast, Ukraine). In 1985 he graduated from the Faculty of Philology from Kiev University, and started working as a literary editor for children’s publishers. In 1992 he founded the first privately owned children’s publisher “A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA”. He lives and works in Kiev.)

The Best Poem Of Ivan Malkovych

An Angel On My Shoulder

(An Old-World Ballad)

Along the edge of the world at night
in the light of the Lord's candle
somebody is wandering alone
with an angel on his shoulder.

He's walking towards nowhere, to non-return,
he's walking lazily like a child,
and the gray pendulum of life
prods him from behind,

so he won't roam at night
in the light of the Lord's candle,
so he won't ramble around
with an angel on his shoulder.

A whirling wind blows,
a pestilential Herod howls,
the pendulum is striking stronger,
the barely alive angel is moaning.

But he keeps going on and on,
though the candle's no longer breathing,
just his lips quiver:
angel, don't fall from my shoulder.


Translation: 2000, Michael M. Naydan

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