Returning
Written by Dmytro Chystiak
Translated from the Ukrainian by Hilary Sheers
Narrated by Philip Cioffari
Evening dust trembled above the sea.
Evening dust covered warm faces.
And your gaze from open wings of blue
Are erased by a quiet azure wave.
You sift the wind-blown sand.
Evening dust drifts into grey faces –
Only on their summits lilac lingers,
Only there, in the depths of dusky eyes,
Only there, in moist mother-of-pearl
The first far star twinkles bright
And you sink in lilac tints until
Above the sea, above the fading cliff
A swirling youth is singing, the moon already echoing
An ethereal flap of white sail
Bids farewell, in violet splashes,
In a cold shivering grape vine
(Sleep, sleep!), but on the horizon,
Behind the stillness there is life again
The white sail comes to life again
In time with the singing water’s flow,
In time with the singing ebbing tide,
In your eyes a pure lantern glows,
Mercurial singer swoons no more –
Having loved once, you will never cease to love
Having returned once, you will not return again.