LIBERTY INFINITY

Fog filled the morning sky, gray-haired this morning,
Snowy the saddened fields, many times trodden.
Though you resent, feel your past, unreturning:
Faces you shall recall, long since forgotten.

You shall recall the talks, long, full of passion,
Glances, so eager, so shy and so subtile.
First date and last date, and lovely confessions,
Sounds of a quiet voice, sweetheart’s, for some time.

You shall recall breaking up, smiling oddly,
You shall recall lots of things, dear and distant,
Thoughtfully stare at the sky that hangs broadly,
Hearing the buzz of wheels, soft, yet persistent.

Translated by Dmitry Belyanin, 2017

Do not stand
By my grave, and weep.
I am not there,
I do not sleep—
I am the thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints in snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle, autumn rain.
As you awake with morning’s hush,
I am the swift, up-flinging rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight,
I am the day transcending night.
Do not stand
By my grave, and cry—
I am not there,
I did not die.

Clare Harner, The Gypsy, December 1934