Speaking In Tongues
Scribbling In Voices


VLADIMIR VODOPYANOV

Translated by Max Nemtsov





TO MY BROTHER

SUMMERTIME

Both heavy clouds and fog

ON A SKI-TRACK

The matted evening is soaking in the window

We were talking about many things

December. Evening. Black winter.

IN THE BLIZZARD

It's night

Wipe your tears, sit closer to me

THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

JUST LIKE BEFORE

The day is fluffy, light and white

You smile

...And the evening pours the air

We are in different lands now







TO MY BROTHER

You are building your life
Like an oddball again
You don't see
What is seen in the broad daylight
You are rushing your girls to your house
You are wooing them left and right
You are burning your fingers -- and oh my God
Could You please extend Your divine protection
Give him strength to crawl to his happiness
And all mores are out of the question





SUMMERTIME

The heat of June was all a-ringing
And the day was breaking through the window with its green branches
The sun was marking everyone
And the mosquitoes weren't pestering me at all
The empty wind was hiding in the bushes
The warmed-up moisture was leaving the shadows
And a white dandelion was reaching for the sun
The summer was growing old, having wasted that whole day
And I thought to myself, By now we are accustomed
To live so peacefully that far from any war
But I knew that the world was impaled on radar antennae
And so many bombs had been invented by the humankind





* * *

Both heavy clouds and fog have been enveloping us for several days
And this evening is oh so tedious, the house is not warmed
And I've been thinking that the world must be a huge scam
If they can take away your summer just like that
My vacation is coming to an end
I've been eating a lot of vitamins
But now the wet skies are covering
The living sun and the pollen of stars
And I notice
With a sudden joy
How some invisible spider has entangled
The moon in the curtain lace by my window
Like a sparkling painting





ON A SKI-TRACK

The snow is slipping under my skies like snakes
And the frozen ski-track is crackling
The frost is drawing closer to the trees
And is trying to avoid me
I see that they have been falling down to their hearts' content
On that mile-long ski-slope
I fly downhill and feel it with my back
How I want to fall down myself





* * *

The matted evening is soaking in the window
And I don't pity it at all
At the gray asphalt road
There are faraway vistas longing with expectations
The dusk has brought out the faces
And the traces of our breathing are fluctuating
There is a borderline between us
The borderline of all those years passed
We were different once and we split apart
Seeing the truth in that separation
We've been celebrating all our birthdays by ourselves
Inviting total strangers to the parties
There is no unity in our unclenched hands
But today, when we have reshuffled all our lives
I can see all too clearly that there still is
The union of our souls like a very fine thread
And that's why I don't want to understand this
But your face cannot hide
That the wedding ring is too tight
Like a mute ring of loneliness





* * *

We were talking about many things
That day of early fall was like a friend to us
And the haystack of the sun was burning far away
And the plot of land stretched like a meadow
You told me of unlove
Of your disastrous second marriage
And I couldn't help thinking
That I had heard that many times before
And in the pure shining of the beautiful eyes
There the skies were sad with the autumn warmth
And there was something intimate in both of us
And even more so -- something else was missing
The wind was softly caressing the grass
And the barren seeds of your words
Were flying down to the ground, losing their sound
To freeze
In the cold winter that will come





* * *

December. Evening. Black winter.
The city is burdened by the dust of many days.
The earth is chilly. The houses are coughing
With their front doors. The streets are frozen.
I'm standing, shivering with weariness upon my shoulders.
My bus is coming to the intersection now.
The lamppost trembles. The speech of streetcar wheels
Is sharply torn away from rails by the insolent wind.
The alley is empty. The see-through darkness is ringing.
And one star is ready to fall down from the skies.
All frozen. And the city begs for some snow.
December. Evening. Black winter.





IN THE BLIZZARD

The small of bread and milk
In that old cozy country house
I'm relaxing to the pins and needles in my sides
Surrendered to my boring dreams
Dry firewood is crackling in the oven
Spitting sparks to the floor
The bowing candle stub
Has shed its wax tears on the table
The light flame shadows
Dancing on the walls and hiding in the corners
The old woman sits reading painfully
She's not the greatest reader after all
In the small anteroom, in the front corner
On a soft fleece coat
There are dogs on the floor
Stupidly looking around
The old man had finished
filling his bandoleer
And went to check on his cow
When the blizzard is over
we'll go hare-chasing
Upon the green snow





* * *

It's night
It gave you to me
Your daughter is asleep
Hugged by the silence
And beyond the window there the wind is whirling the snow
How long is this night, how long
I'm silent
You are deep in your thoughts too
I'm feeling the warmth of your shoulder
I feel good with you
But a different one is more precious to me
The one I know nothing about
The wind is howling all night long, condemning me
Spreading ill rumors around
Forgive me for this, my different girl
Whom I shall call mine





* * *

Wipe your tears, sit closer to me
You must be tired of waiting
The reddish street lamp in your window
Will be nodding to you for some time
And, obedient to the gusts of wind
It will be creaking to its music
And there's no reason for your tears --
I'm here now, I'll understand you
Or is there? I don't know it yet
The room is quiet. The dark is breathing
And only someone's firm steps resound in the corridor
Breaking our silence





THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

I'm thrown into this circle
I shall be able to do something in it
And even more so, if suddenly
I'll retrace your footsteps
But the circles on the water
Are the further, the weaker
And don't you walk
To me now -- run





JUST LIKE BEFORE

The waves are crushing on the shore, just like before
A new spring is coming
The edge of the sky's blue has melted
It's raining, it's snowing
We all have a friend and an enemy
And we know the bitter taste of victory
We know a lot of proverbs, we
Save a lot of wisdom for the rainy day
We open our souls to each other
And reinforce the padlocks
The years are still to come, just like before
Just like the familiar highway unfurling in front of us
And the words wait for me are sad, just like before
And there's still a lot to do, just like before





* * *

The day is fluffy, light and white
And I am quite lucky today
He gave me a present --
The one who had been knocking the snowflakes out of the clouds
I will spread the snow on the road
I will swipe it to doorways, to the streetcar stop
Let the wheels and the feet slip
I take no reproaches today





* * *

You smile
And I'm glad
You laugh
And I'm happy
Your laughter is sparkling
Like grapes on a vine
Your laughter gives life
Like air in the taiga
I'm willing to carry your laughter
In the palms of my hands
Crystally ringing
And immune to the evil eye
And to lower it
To the sadness of my verse
And the verse will sing with its joy
At once





* * *

...And the evening pours the air
Into naked windows
The sea washes the stars
At the horizon's border
You see, it so happens
When the evening is hushed
When you stare intently
And your soul wishes it
The fine light of your hair
Pours, entangled in itself
From the window
Along the starry smoothness
Only to return when the morning dew shines
The far are near
And the dark is transparent
Anyway,
To live is not so bad
So why are the waves whispering so gloomily
Sighing noisily and caressing the shore?





* * *

We are in different lands now
The world is turning
The years are galloping like mad
My soul is longing
To reach you
We don't see each other very often
We do what we're supposed to do
As years and hours and minutes go by
And everything is the
Whole eternity
And everything seems like an instant
There are our letters
There are our hi's and bye's
And they cannot be trifles
If in those letters and lines
There are the years of our lives