Thursday 23 November 2017

Тих момент/A quiet moment


                                                And I suppose you can hear traffic on Slivnitsa,
                                                but for most of us it’s a pause with nothing in it.
                                                The dog across the street wanders dully along.
                                                Imperceptibly, the line between sunlight and shade
                                                slips across an apartment block’s ochre façade.
                                                A few late fig leaves drop into our path.

                                                An ordinary afternoon, towards four o’clock –
                                                a man in winter jacket, cap, lets himself out
                                                through a stern iron door, makes his way
                                                with the household waste to a corner dumpster.
                                                And yes, this may well be the kind of day
                                                when an Icarus somewhere rises, then falls,
                                                or a woman watering plants on her balcony
                                                looks down and, yes, sees something amazing.


Image: Marina Shiderova; text: Tom Phillips