In our fourth installment of this new weekly column, we collect the works of writers around the world in response to the ongoing war in Ukraine—texts of compassion, of endurance, of commemoration, and of reaching outward. This poem expresses the resilience of both the art of poetry and the Ukrainian people in the face of violence.
Life’s More Enduring Than War
When the water runs out,
light fades, frost falls, and the
firmament freezes over,
we won’t stoop to prose.
Тhe grasses, dry and stiff,
have not yet grown above us.
Until the words run out,
we’ll speak in verses
of those who are far and near,
and say that we’re one and loved,
above the Bug, the Vorskla, the Dnieper,
in Warsaw, Rome, and Prague.
When all the words run out,
in bird language, we’ll proclaim,
in one universal roll call—
our homeland is alive.
Life’s more enduring than war,
long-lasting, sacrosanct.
We’re all her children, and while
she lives, we won’t be orphaned.
Жизнь долговечней, чем война
Когда закончится вода,
погаснет свет, падут морозы,
остынет твердь, но и тогда
мы не опустимся до прозы.
Еще не выросла трава
над нами, жесткая, сухая.
Пока не кончились слова,
мы будем говорить стихами
о тех, кто здесь и там, о том,
что мы едины и любимы
за Бугом, Ворсклой и Днепром,
Варшавой, Прагою и Римом.
Когда закончатся слова,
мы будем говорить по-птичьи,
о том, что родина жива,
в одной всемирной перекличке.
Жизнь долговечней, чем война,
прочней, и нет ее святее.
Мы дети, и пока она
жива, мы не осиротеем.
Translated from the Russian by Marina Eskina and Ian Ross Singleton.
Irina Ivanchenko is a prizewinning poet of international renown and a journalist. The author of six books of poetry in Russian, she also writes in Ukrainian and has numerous publications in international journals and anthologies. She lives in Kyiv but is now residing in Germany with her mother and daughter. She is a refugee of the current war.
Marina Eskin was born in Leningrad. She is a physicist by training. Marina is the author of four books of poetry in Russian; her texts and translations appear in various print and online publications. She is a member of the editorial board of the journal Interpoezia.
Ian Ross Singleton is the author of the novel Two Big Differences (MGraphics), about Odessa, Ukraine during the Euromaidan Uprising. His short stories, translations, and criticism have appeared in journals such as Saint Ann’s Review, Cafe Review, New Madrid, Fiddleblack, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and Fiction Writers Review.
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