Natalka Bilotserkivets Poems

In memory of Ernst Juenger

There are boys who befriend snakes.
They are fearless and they sing.
...

When on a red screen
on the white pillows that are of dead faces
lie the hieroglyphs of brows and eyes
like butterflies embroidered in silk —
...

There's nothing better than the scent
of a child's hair... only a dried violet
smells that way... only an unsure-blue
petal on the thin neck
...

for anyone

in one of the cities where at an uncertain time
capricious fate acknowledges us
...

only a year is left just one year
until he can cross the shoe-scraped threshold
and beyond the dark walls covered in lice and fleas
...

You are the train that leaves at zero hour
of the new year.
Again the same compartments, illuminated,
like smoke in the vast night.
...

It's time to pack your bag and go.
You don't know what to take - something easy
to carry; everything you'd possibly need,
instantly found.
...