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“It’s not like waiting for post …” by Marina Tsvetaeva 🇷🇺 (8 Oct 1892 – 31 Aug 1941)
Translated from the Russian by Mary Jane White
It’s not like waiting for post.
This is how you wait for
the one letter you need:
soft stuff bound with
tape and paste.
Inside a little word.
That’s all. Happiness.
​
Waiting for happiness?
It’s more like waiting for death.
The soldiers will salute
and three chunks of lead
will slam into your chest.
Your eyes will then flash red.
​
No question of joy.
Too old now, all bloom gone.
Waiting for what else now but
black muzzles in a square yard.
​
A square letter. I think
there may be spells in the ink.
No hope. And no one is
too old to face death
​
or such a square envelope.