No Where, Now Here

You Are Big in Love

You are big in love.
                                And bold.
My every step is timid.
I’ll cause you no harm,
and can hardly do you any good.
Seems you are leading me
off the beaten path through a forest.
Now we’re up to our waist in wild flowers.
I don’t even know
                             what they are, these flowers.
My previous training is of no help here.
I’m uncertain
                      what to do or how.
You’re tired.
                     You ask to be carried in my arms.
You are already in my arms.
Ahead of us stretches all that is pure,
                                                           early,
young,
           and what bids us journey on.
How quiet you are!
                               As you breathe,
                                                        your high bosom
raises your dress.
“Do you see?
                      What a blue sky!
Can you tell
                    what birds sing in the forest?
Well, what are you waiting for?
                                                   Well?
                                                            Carry me then!”
And where shall I carry you?

Yevgeny Aleksándrovich Yevtushenko, 1955
English translation by George Reavey

Untitled #8, from the series Languor. Photo: Donavon Smallwood.