Mikhail Svetlov
Franz Josef Land...

Franz Josef Land
In a freezing sea
Is where I’ll forget
You abandoned me.

Rot! I’m aware
On those Polar nights
You’ll shimmer there
In the Northern Lights

And the Polar dawns
Will ripple as those
Long fingers of yours
Spread over the floes.

Thrifty with light is
The Polar Sun.
It’s time you showed it
What can be done.

I need no company —
I want to go shares
In black solitude
With white Polar bears.

Translated by Peter Tempest