Over the white lea,
The winter’s chill sea,
In silence
And amid my cares,
Over my happiness
And my pain, yes,
As the months pass
And the years,
It flies, it quivers
And, ineffable, shimmers,
Shining black in the sky
Of my nativity –
My single, solitary,
Soundless company,
My one and only
Star of destiny.
I pray to it,
I’m scared of it.
I try to avoid it
Altogether.
The time will come when
I will stop and then
Under its starry gaze

Sleep forever.
And whenever I stray
On paths faraway
Where beasts left
Tracks in the snow
I am scared no longer,
Amused no longer –
No more trouble
No more woe.
The songs around
Have lost their sound
And instead of songs:
The crunch of spines.
In my beloved country
Before spring comes finally,
Through my prison bars
You still shine.

Translated from Belarusian by John Farndon and Hanna Komar for  #FreeAllWords

Above the white field,
Wintry sea,
In silence
And among the troubles
Above my happiness
And pain
For months and for years
It floats , it trembles
It shines unutterably
On a black blanket of
Native heaven,
Lonely, mute,
My only Star — the fate of mine.
I pray
I fear
I’m trying to ignore it.
The time will come and
I will rest forever under
Its starry gaze.
And now I’m wandering the trail
Of the wild beast.
It is not scary anymore
Nor it is funny.
There’s no more distress
In how the songs around ‘ve been quieted down
And In how backbones crunch instead of songs,
At any place
Where on the eve
In the window of the jail
You shine for me.

I drank your toxic mother’s milk,

Accompanied by earth admixed with ash.

‘Thank you,’ I said and, though not really of your ilk,

Came back at my own risk, however rash.

To risk the hallway with its winking light,

The knock at midnight and the piles of forms,

Soft paws on parquet of a stalking cat,

The power of darkness entering a room.

And in the darkness, tingling stars in ranks of five,

Whirl amid high snows and slip and slide,

And can be neither stopped nor caught alive,

And so today remain a valid guide.

Perhaps it was not bad I fully saw

My time and place in profile and full-face,

and had not long its darkness to explore,

Black night with green and gleaming eyes to trace.

But let us part, my love, this time for good

As clouds of billowing dust behind me spread!

My path leads me away from you and should,

While I have life and see free space ahead.

Translated from russian by Arch Tait for  #FreeAllWords

My love, eternal, until the end

Look: my wounds are healing already 

My quiet one, who fate gifted to me 

I’m wearing your ring like a diadem.

Life caressed me, then it beat me

Bathed me in sun, then threw me behind bars

And you can see these fading scars

The pain lessens, dear, gradually.

The walls grow thick; they’re pressing on me.

I cannot see the dawn’s new glow

But don’t be afraid – our love will, I know,

Survive the time and ourselves surely.

Just hold my hand firmly palm to palm

Through the labyrinths of incarceration

My only medicine, my sole consolation

My world, my home, my lasting calm.

Translated from Belarusian by John Farndon and Hanna Komar for  #FreeAllWords