Akulina Tamm. Returning Poem by Natalia Sozh and friends

(a man to a woman)

Here I used to come without knocking
When you used to love me and to wait.
I returned. And what's the most shocking -
Nothing changed, except the running date.
I know every piece and every place,
Every thing seems dear, this and that:
Here's the ancient clock's familiar face,
There's the same blue bowl for the cat…
And the buzzing stove getting redder,
And the dancing fingers of the flame,
And the dog's tail beat under the ladder -
They remember me, they are the same.
Everything is native to distraction:
Sleepy roses with drops of dew
And the vase's shining perfection -
Everything is mine but... but you.
Empty talk about rainy weather
And the empty hopes I've brought.
Folded arms mean we shan't be together,
You just crossed me out and forgot.
And there is a new look in your eyes
For the former you exist no more.
And I really don't recognize
You, a stranger never known before.

Translated from Russian by Larisa Ladyka