Marina Boroditskaya
Translated by Ruth Fainlight
Cordelia, you are a fool! Would it have been That hard to yield to the old man? To say to him, "I, too, O darling Daddy, Love you more than my life". Piece of cake! You wanted him to work it out on his own - Who was the best of his daughters. Proud fool! And now he's dead, you too, everyone's dead. And Gloucester! Oh the bloody horror - His eye-sockets - the scene of the blinding - Fingers leafing quickly through the pages As if through plates of red-hot iron ... Here, Read it now. I'll turn away. You weren't there In that Act, were you? Go on, read it, Look what you've done, you stupid little fool! OK, OK, don't cry. Of course, the author Is quite a character, but next time Make sure to be more stubborn, and resist: Viola, Rosalinda, Catherine They managed - why wouldn't you? Like a puppy, Pull him by the leg of his pants with your teeth Into the game, into comedy! The laws of the genre will lead us out to light... Here, wipe your nose and give me back the hanky. I still have to wash and iron and return it To a certain careless blonde Venetian In the next volume. Sorry I told you off. Best regards to your father. Remember: like a puppy * * * "God is conscience", said Granny Vera, a water-sprinkled blouse steaming under the iron. When he saw me sitting under the standard lamp, God flicked the back of my head. I haven't forgotten. This is the way Granny talked about the ironed blouse: "The garment looks utterly different - don't you understand?" She and Granddad yelled at each other in what I thought Was French: only later realising it was Yiddish. Grandpa Nahum taught me to run and to fight and grumbled in Latin that homini homo was a wolf. But I believed in brotherhood, friendship, equality and happiness - and running away from home. Granny Vera also said other funny things, like "upon my honour" instead of just "honestly", "Aren`t you ashamed?" she sighed, "Not thinking of others, wanting more than you`ve got? You`re disappointing God."
A dream
Translated by Sasha Dugdale
My poor spirit stands before The heavenly medical board Sight: shit, muscle tone: slight Hearing: flawed Naked, weighed and measured, A trembling fool Upon whom the narrowed eyes Of the recruiting archangel fall. The mysterious, the glorious St Michael, the battle-scarred Asks only one question: 'Soldier, did you fight your hardest?' 'Well... I put my best foot forward... I piped my pipe... Woke men's hearts... And I... I never expected any reward Ask Gabriel there - he'll take my part.' You wandered in a haze! You sprawled and lazed! You mucked about Dozed in the sun, half-dazed Cloud-gazed. Those heights you were to gain From the dark - they were beyond you! You will wake as a woman again With winter upon you.
Exodus
So I was wondering how they crossed that seabed When the whole watery firmament was combed, wave to floor And the squelch, squelch, squelch, and the walls on either side Going up and up like a great aquatic corridor The babies were carried, the older children, I'm sure Fell behind, shouting: Look! Look what I've found! Was it really possible to walk the watery course Without stopping once to lift a shell's pink round? What wonders they must have seen on that bed! The tentacles that jutted from the walls like booms And yet not all of them knew why they fled Nor remembered that behind them lay their doom. And when the prophet Mariam beat on her tambour And the sea walls bent, and with a tidal roar Crushed the Egyptians, their horses, swept, destroyed - Did they shudder, even briefly, before they danced for joy?