Leonid Martynov
Water? Yes, it`s water...

Water?
Yes, it's water.
And here we have the surety:
It follows water's laws;
It falls in drops,
It flows,
It passes all the tests of clarity and purity —
But does it serve to slake
Your thirst, or wash your clothes?

It scorns to deck its rim with rushes, reeds and sedges —
No sheen of silv'ry fish in dim mysterious deeps,
No waving water-reeds. And round its tidy edges
No song-bird sings, and ne'er a willow weeps.

Water?
Yes, it's water;
It's proved by all the data,
Although it knows no wave of storm or strife.
And this
This H₂O
This aqua distillata
Has all that water has —
Yes,
All but life.

Translated by Archie Johnstone