AT HOME

Again I’ll visit for a day or two,

won’t help with anything again,

nervous, distracted conversations

will just distress my parents.

What will I find next time

I come? Everyone there?

As I leave: father and mother in the window

like Hutsul [1] icons on glass.

Notes

[1] For more on Hutsuls, see the note for Andriy Bondar’s “St. Nick No. 628."

Translated by Bohdan Boychuk and Myrosia Stefaniuk