Leonid Martynov
Birds in the sky

And once again
birds hover
in the sky:
tomtits,
pigeons,
martins...

But there are frontiers all the same,
borders, check points, lines of demarcation.

Ah, yon birds!
Don't flit so aimlessly there!
Tail in, shoulder to shoulder,
form triangles,
try other formations.

But nevertheless
they dart
and wheel
and cause confusion.
No one on the earth
seems to direct them with authority.

Hardly comforting!
Very sad!
Turns out there’s no control.
They fly about as in primordial days
some hundred thousand years ago!

Enough of that!
I must intervene, I said.
I’ll issue commands by radio.
And nevertheless
I hesitate to intervene;
stopping,
all I do is stare!

Translated by George Reavey