BEFORE A MAP OF RUSSIA

In a strange house, in a faraway land,

her portrait hangs on the wall;

she herself is dying like a beggar woman,

lying on straw, in pain that can’t be told.

But here she looks as she always did look:

young, rich, and draped

in that luxurious green cloak

in which she was always portrayed.

I gaze at your countenance as if at an icon . . .

“Blessed be your name, slaughtered Rus!”

I quietly touch your cloak with one hand;

and with that same hand make the sign of the cross.

—TEFFI
translated by Robert Chandler