Porquê tanto cansaço? Porque as cidades são duras e o corpo é mole

by Iryna Shuvalova (ukrainian poet)

6. volunteer

my child’s father
is standing in line
to enlist as a volunteer
for the city defense squad

normally we don’t talk much
but now…
but now.

there’s a long queue
they’ve been waiting all morning
his voice on the phone is spirited
almost cheerful

how will you…?
constantly tortured by your ulcer
incapable of heating soup
hammering a nail taking out the trash
watering the flowers on time
keeping the cat from scratching up the sofa

how will you hold a weapon
how will you shoot at
the bloody boys from Perm
the bloody boys from outside Irkutsk
boys trained to kill

I know
you will be a good shot

***

7. earrings

getting ready to leave for work
I suddenly catch myself wondering
if I ought to wear
simpler earrings

if today
someone dies there
what will i do

a tearful
angry
helpless
fool

in these cheerful things
in these colorful things

***

8. while you sleep

it’s easier for me when you sleep
because it seems to me that while you sleep
you can’t die

after all, asleep,
you’re already so close
to the other world
where there’s no shooting anymore

and also because while you sleep
I’m not asleep
and so in some sense
I’m standing guard

if not guarding you
(you’re so far away)
then this day
this light

six hours ahead
I carry this morning sun like a banner
that waves

over the land of the living
and the land of the dead

their border guards
have hung their rifles in the trees
and lie down lazily in the grass

these two countries
have not yet severed
diplomatic ties

Translated from the Ukrainian by Amelia Glaser and Yuliya Ilchuk, in consultation with the author.