LISTEN WITH OPEN HEARTS

TO MY UNKNOWN FRIEND
- Irina Ratushinskaya, USSR
(trans. David McDuff)

Above my half of the world
The comets spread their tails.
In my half of the century
Half the world looks me in the eye.
In my hemisphere he wind's blowing,
There are feasts of plague without end.
But a searchlight shines in our faces,
And effaces the touch of death.
And our madness retreats from us,
And our sadnesses pass through us,
And we stand in the midst of our fates,
Setting our shoulders against the plague.
We shall hold it back with our selves,
We shall stride through the nightmare.
It will not go further than us - don't be afraid
On the other side of the globe!

Aint' I A Woman! A Book of Woman's poetry
From Around the World, Edited by Illona Linthwaite