Monologue of the Monument
trans. John Hennessy and Ostap Kin
I’m allowed
to sleep
here.
I got cold lying in the storage yard.
I was tortured in party offices
by soulless apologists.
Together with soldier, sailor
and partisan ––
A l l m y p e o p l e
sleep here forever under a layer of grass,
h e r e w a s a c o m p l e t e g e n o c i d e!
Come, lovers, with flowers,
leave a tear, take a low bow ––
with hearts warmed by sincerity.
Just no more war.
Just no more war.
[1997]
to sleep
here.
I got cold lying in the storage yard.
I was tortured in party offices
by soulless apologists.
Together with soldier, sailor
and partisan ––
A l l m y p e o p l e
sleep here forever under a layer of grass,
h e r e w a s a c o m p l e t e g e n o c i d e!
Come, lovers, with flowers,
leave a tear, take a low bow ––
with hearts warmed by sincerity.
Just no more war.
Just no more war.
[1997]
John Hennessy
is the author of two poetry collections, Bridge and Tunnel and Coney
Island Pilgrims. He is the co-translator, with Ostap Kin, of A New
Orthography, selected poems by Serhiy Zhadan, finalist for the PEN Award
for Poetry in Translation, 2021, and co-winner of the Derek Walcott Prize,
2021. The poems published here are included in the forthcoming anthology Babyn
Yar: Ukrainian Poets Respond (Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute), edited
and co-translated by Ostap Kin.
Ostap Kin is an editor (and translator with John Hennessy) of Babyn Yar: Ukrainian Poets Respond (forthcoming from Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute) and New York Elegies: Ukrainian Poets Respond, and is the co-translator, with John Hennessy, of A New Orthography, selected poems by Serhiy Zhadan, co-winner of the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry and finalist for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. With Vitaly Chernetsky, he translated Yuri Andrukhovych's Songs for a Dead Rooster.
Read Ostap Kin’s introduction to these translations.
Ostap Kin is an editor (and translator with John Hennessy) of Babyn Yar: Ukrainian Poets Respond (forthcoming from Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute) and New York Elegies: Ukrainian Poets Respond, and is the co-translator, with John Hennessy, of A New Orthography, selected poems by Serhiy Zhadan, co-winner of the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry and finalist for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. With Vitaly Chernetsky, he translated Yuri Andrukhovych's Songs for a Dead Rooster.
Read Ostap Kin’s introduction to these translations.
Монолог пам’ятника
Arkadiy Anin
Мені дозволено
Тут
Спати.
Я на задвірках змерз лежати.
Мене замучили по кабінетах
бездушні партапологети.
Разом із солдатом, і матросом,
і партизаном ––
В е с ь м і й р і д
тут спить навічно під покосом, ––
т у т б у в т о т а л ь н и й г е н о ц и д ! ! !
Прийдіть, закохані, із квітами,
лишіть сльозу, низькій уклін ––
з серцями, щирістю зігрітими.
Аби –– без війн.
Аби –– без війн.
[1997]
Тут
Спати.
Я на задвірках змерз лежати.
Мене замучили по кабінетах
бездушні партапологети.
Разом із солдатом, і матросом,
і партизаном ––
В е с ь м і й р і д
тут спить навічно під покосом, ––
т у т б у в т о т а л ь н и й г е н о ц и д ! ! !
Прийдіть, закохані, із квітами,
лишіть сльозу, низькій уклін ––
з серцями, щирістю зігрітими.
Аби –– без війн.
Аби –– без війн.
[1997]
Arkadiy Anin fought during the Second World War. From 1952-1989 he worked as a doctor at the
Kyiv Medical Institute. In 1989, his first Russian-language collection was
published. In 1990, he moved to Israel. He published two more collections of
poetry, one in Russian (1995) and another one, Dotyk (Touch; 1997), in Ukrainian.
Forthcoming in Babyn Yar: Ukrainian Poets Respond, ed. Ostap Kin, trans. John Hennessy, Ostap Kin (Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 2021). Reprinted with permission. © 2021 by the President and Fellows of the Harvard College.
Forthcoming in Babyn Yar: Ukrainian Poets Respond, ed. Ostap Kin, trans. John Hennessy, Ostap Kin (Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 2021). Reprinted with permission. © 2021 by the President and Fellows of the Harvard College.
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