A poem for Ukraine

“It is difficult / to get the news from poems / yet men die miserably every day / for lack / of what is found there.” William Carlos Williams

LYUBA YAKIMCHUK

Died of Old Age

granddad and granny passed away
they died on the same day
at the same hour
at the same moment —
people said, they died of old age

their hen met its end
and so did their goat and their dog
(their cat was out)
and people said, they died of old age

their cottage fell apart
their shed turned into ruins
and the cellar got covered with dirt
people said, everything collapsed from old age

their children came to bury the granddad and granny
Olha was pregnant
Serhiy was drunk
and Sonya was only three
they all perished, too
and people said, they died of old age

the cold wind plucked yellow leaves and buried beneath them
the granddad, the granny, Olha, Serhiy and Sonya
who all died of old age

Translated from the Ukrainian by Anatoly Kudryavitsky