[Potatoes in flower]

Potatoes in flower,

and silvery vines,

the swelling grasses of fields in July …

and in the Volga, Sashka,

my awkward in-law,

though “in-law” is awkward,

takes the last swim of his life.

And the silvery vines

are for my pain,

the potato flowers for my tears.

And the swelling grasses in the July fields

are to make me pine for him.

Translated by Robert Reid