A dream does not last long . . .

Written by Dmytro Chystiak   

Translated from the Ukrainian by Hilary Sheers

Narrated by John DeAngelo

                                                                                                                                        

 

A dream does not last long. A remote inflaming of wounds.

Flashes of light – above the despair of Autumn’s rising tides,

Silhouettes of birds or snakes – over morning frost

Amid restless moaning – a delusion of delusions –

Stillborn bodies and yet not bodies – trapped –

There, where the milled corn will split – into hot countries –

You believe and dream and tremble at an apparition,

Only not for long – for you are young and uncertain,

You will not fall into silence,

You are not yet worthy like the gentle Sebastian,

To smile innocently (while angels played,

The Virgin and Child, with variations…),

To smile innocently and behold – both blood and arrow

Do not tremble – over gardens

A bowstring laid down – impossible to cut it,

A look comes back and is not returned,

Its sunburnt wound does not flinch,

Singing does not soar upwards – day is breaking…

For we are young and uncertain. Wide are the seas.

Flashes of light – above the despair of Autumn’s rising tides.

Waves wash the shore. Above, a star glimmers.

It is too early, burn as you sleep, but not to cinders:

Who then, if not you, will carry me out, however fickle?