all continue to live their secret lives in my veins.
The first two dwell in the shadows;
I long to ask the third
who reaps
the very last harvest –
or do the birds carry
the last grains with them into the air?
I go along with the birds,
my fingers pressed deep into
the neck feathers of the old wild goose –
every autumn I take flight
towards myself and perpetuity.
Livia Viitol is an Estonian poet, short story writer and cultural historian. A Handful of Light (Lapwing), translated by Ilmar Lehtpere, is a selection of her poetry in English.
Ilmar Lehtpere is an Estonian poet and translator. His most recent translations into English are On the Edge of a Sword by Kristiina Ehin (Arc, 2018), and Shortening the Candle’s Wick by Andres Ehin and Ly Seppel (Carcanet, 2018).
Kristine Doll is a poet and translator (English/Spanish/Catalan). She teaches at Salem State University in Salem MA. Her work has been published domestically and internationally in such venues as Asymptote, The Seventh Quarry, Cross-Cultural Communications Art & Poetry Broadside Series, The Paterson Literary Review, Gargoyle, Loch Raven Review, and Immagine & poesia. Her most recent translation from English into Spanish is the book of aphorisms written by Carolyn Kleefeld, Soul Seeds/Semillas del alma (Cross-Cultural Communications and Edicions Saldonar, 2021).