Poetry in Translation Issue
Volume 16:3, Summer 2015
The Day Swallows Everything
It’s been raining since morning and won’t stop
won’t stop
won’t stop…
The gray falls
as a spider from the ceiling, silently,
our love
like a fly sucked dry
left swinging in the web.
The day bares its appetite:
we won’t be able to save ourselves
from its hunger by choking back the words
or unleashing our poison.
It’s been raining since morning and won’t stop
won’t stop…
Денят Поглъша Всичко
Вали от сутринта и не престава,
не престава,
не престава…
Сивото се спуска
така безшумно като паяк от тавана,
че нашата любов
като муха изсмукана и куха
да се люлее в паяжината остана.
Денят показва апетит безумен
и няма от глада му да опазим
с усилие преглътнатите думи,
умората от порива напразен.
Вали от сутринта и не престава,
не престава.
Raindrops on the Window
I will sit next to you, next to your bed
next to the lamp that washes the room in light—
a stop light flashes, runs down with the rain outside
like a wounded eye…
Shedding cold blood in spurts.
The night, reflected in red,
slips down the window in drops.
With your hair flung back, you stare at me.
I don’t remember yet
why I came back.
Капки по Прозореца
До теб, до твоето легло ще седна,
до лампата напълнена със светлина-
изтича светофарът под дъжда навън
с око ранено…
Студена лее се на тласъци кръвта.
На капки по прозорците се стича
ноща с отблясъци червени.
Отметнала коса, ти гледаш в мен.
Не помня вече,
за какво се върнах.
“Raindrops on the Window” originally appeared in Marlboro Review.
Holly Karapetkova is the author of Words We Might One Day Say (Washington Writers' Publishing House, 2010). She is the author of over twenty books and graphic stories for children and young adults. Karapetkova's poetry, prose, and translations from the Bulgarian have appeared in Mid-American Review, 32 Poems, and Huffington Post. She is an Associate Professor of English at Marymount University and lives in Arlington, VA.
Kiril Merjanski is a Bulgarian poet, playwright and translator and is considered one of the most influential postmodern Bulgarian poets. His works have been published and translated widely. He is the author of four volumes of poetry, as well as several plays and other works. He currently lives in the United States.