Such Love
.
Such love it is, a hot lump in your throat;
It is without any halftones or relative meanings,
Loved not half-heartedly but with the full sun and sea,
It is loved hyacinth-like, violet-like, and unconditionally.
It is so uncovered and raw, like an early morning,
It is so striking that you can’t tell if it heals or wounds.
It has been promised—your knees go weak, and your armor is broken;
It is like a long-awaited train stop that you missed on purpose;
It is like a roar and a voice amidst it saying: it’s just a thunderstorm;
It is like a street musician that has been slaughtered at Pidzamche;
It is like rammed boats and rivers that have gone shallow;
Like one hundred fifty-five children deprived of their fathers’ care;
Like the names of the lost places which you are never tired of saying;
Like the highest grace and the worst curse;
Like the black grass, bird nests turned to ashes, and the whisper of the void.
Such love it is which has grown deep into you
and will never let go.
.
така любов — що аж у горлі клубок гарячий;
без будь-яких напівтонів чи відносних значень,
не упівсерця, а цілим сонцем — і морем,
так гіацинтово, фіалково і безумовно;
така розхристана та надсадна, як ранок ранній,
така разюча: незрозуміло, гоїть чи ранить,
така обіцяна — зм’яклі коліна, розбитий панцир;
як довгождана, але навмисне пропущена станція;
як гуркіт —і голос, який втішає: гроза, гроза;
як вуличний музикант, зарізаний на Підзамчі;
як протаранені кораблі, обмілілі ріки;
як сто п’ятдесят п’ять дітей без батьківської опіки;
як назви втрачених місць, які не втомишся вимовляти;
як благодать найвища та найгірше прокляття;
як чорна трава, спопелілі гнізда і шепіт пустки.
така любов, що вросла —
і ніколи вже не відпустить.
Yuliya Musakovska was born in 1982 in Lviv, Ukraine. She is an award-winning Ukrainian poet, translator, and member of PEN Ukraine. She has published five books of poetry in Ukrainian, The God of Freedom (2021), Men, Women and Children (2015), Hunting the Silence (2014), Masks (2011), Exhaling, Inhaling (2010). A winner of numerous literary awards in Ukraine, among them DICTUM Prize by Krok Publishing House, Smoloskyp Poetry Award, Ostroh Academy “Vytoky” Award, Bohdan Antonych Prize, and “Hranoslov” Award. Her works have been translated into over fifteen languages, including English, German, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Polish, Lithuanian, Estonian, Bulgarian, Hebrew, Chinese, etc. She translated Swedish poetry into Ukrainian and contemporary Ukrainian authors into English.
Olena Jennings is a writer and translator. She is the author of the poetry collection Songs from an Apartment and the chapbook Memory Project. Her novel Temporary Shelter was released in 2021 from Cervena Barva Press. Her translation with Oksana Lutsyshyna from Ukrainian of Kateryna Kalytko’s Nobody Knows Us Here and We Don’t Know Anyone is forthcoming from Lost Horse Press and her translation of Vasyl Makhno’s poetry collection Paper Bridge is forthcoming from Plamen Press. Glagoslav Publications released Absolute Zero in 2020, translated from the Ukrainian of author Artem Chekh, with Oksana Lutsyshyna; and Lost Horse Press released Pray to the Empty Wells co-translated with Iryna Shuvalova in 2019. She is the founder and curator of the Poets of Queens reading series and small press.
