Margarita Aliger

I was for ages predestined
To be expelled by a war from home,
And with my baby through the land
Of the unknown woods to roam,

To find to where hard roads lead,  
To bear such pains that one can’t bear –  
To weep with these hot drops of lead,
By which you had been killed, my dear.


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, March, 2001