Poem of the week: from War of the Beasts and the Animals by Maria Stepanova

 

Poem of the week: from War of the Beasts and the Animals by Maria Stepanova

It was a horrid night

watching over  the window,

not merely  sleepless  night,

but birds   among birds, four legged

in mutual cacophony disturbing

stillness of night. Not merely 

sounds of human bickering,

volley of  shots nonstops amidst 

blood shed  and wail, but also

a different from bird calls,

shots piecing through birches

and branches, twigs  and leaves

not  a momentary threat to birds

but scarry noise from gun pellets;

 some wounded in search of shifts,

dying soldier passing on gesture

for water, dead  just now, all 

for nation  and creed  merge 

with birds  and animals, poet

feels sorry for scant respect lives.