Kevin Rainbow

A Translation from the Russian of “Love” by Vyacheslav Ivanov

We are two storm-ignited tree-trunks, we
Two blazes of a single midnight forest;
We are two night-transpiercing meteors,
An arrow of two points - one destiny.
We are two horses reined unfailingly
By just one hand, pricked by a single spur.
Two eyes that with a single vision stare,
Two fluttering pinions of one fantasy.
 
We are two shades - a pair who mourn a loss
Over the marble of a grave divine,
Where ancient Beauty lies in deep repose.
The two-voiced lips of single-secret troths,
The single Sphinx of our own selves' design.
We are two arms upon a single cross.

Kevin Rainbow has produced translations of great Russian poets such as Gavrila Derzhavin and Fyodor Tyutchev, as well as of Russian and Ukrainian traditional and modern folk songs. He resides in Regina, SK; Canada.