Eduard Bagritsky
Spring, the vet, and I

The sign says hospital — a blue haze wraps it now.
The veterinary goes over a cow.

The hand painted with manganese
Feels first the udders, then the strong butt of
The tail, and soon the cow
Beneath the bull will stretch and howl with love.
They clear the nuptial circle with their spades,
The starling sings the epithalamy.
The zodiac has come to earth: Pisces
Is in the pond, and in the grass Taurus is plain to see.

    (The world of wet boughs swells
    To fill the sky.
    The orange wasp casts spells
    In the wet arbors. Why,
    Even the caged larks try
    Their voices: there's so much to tell!)

The sign says hospital; above, blue haze expands.
With quiet zest the vet washes his hands.

A noise behind the gates.
Let's see what's doing.
Swelling their flanks, the cows
Drift dimly, mooing;
Like spotted smoke they move,
Misty with milk and grassy memories
Of meadow haze. Dew hangs like bells
Upon their horns. Blue vapor seethes
About those steady feet.
Well, vet, what are you thinking of?
Now it is time for you to lay your hands
Upon these beasts: to bless alike repose and movement and
Death, and the aching howl of love.

    (The household of the April world:
    The bugs and lizards, tiny things,
    Parcel this earth among them, take
    And split it into bits:
    Ah, boys on swings,
    How the boughs shake!)

The sign says hospital a blue haze wraps it yet.
Tm here! Tm near! Old vet!

I stand above you like your conscience, vet.
I make the rounds of all your days like death!
Don't stop!
Work till you drop!
Fight with your wife!
Get drunk!
But keep your faith with life! Don't fail!
Into the crock of milk a warm star falls.
The world lies seamless,
Ironed-out and clean.
It bursts with green,
It shines like water,
Like a maple leaf
Washed by the rain!
It's close! It flutters at your elbow! Seize it and
Squeeze it like a quick bird in your hand!

    (A star stands on the door sill —
    Do not scare it!
    Woods, roads, ravines —
    Oil, life unplumbed!
    A star stands on the sill —
    Don't scare it now, keep still!)

Above the sign blue haze coils lazily.
Off in the distance the vet bows to me.

Upon his perch the starling tries his best.
Earth steams as though fresh from a Turkish bath. No wind.
Above the birds in space that's thinned
To emptiness the planets knock
One on another with a cobbled sound.
Wild geese have a date
With rivery countries.
And the attendants make
For town, with huge stars tête-à-tête.
Earth flows with semen.

    (Child of labor, rise,
    Barefooted, stirred;
    This world is yours to seize
    As though it were a honeycomb
    Sparkling with dew for you!
    Oh, whirl of vernal suns,
    Young surf of seas!)

Translated by Babette Deutsch