cockle-antarctica
has been cast up onto the shore
from it fell an icy fragment
instead of the first snow
three calendar kittens
november december January
february. march.
achilles took
the tortoise for a walk
working hours on the leash
of the short day
to see how our little winter,
long as a tongue
freezing to the iron cold
will not give in to the enemy
our proud varangian*
both our hard sign and our soft**
Translated by Daniel Weissbort
*Reference to a song from the beginning of the twentieth century, in which “Our proud Varangian,” the name of a ship, refuses to surrender to the enemy. The Varangians invaded Russia from the North, a land of ice and snow (author’s note).
**The hard sign and soft sign are Russian letters; their functions are indicated by their names (author’s note).