edited, unrhymed translation by © Евгений Сухарников, Fledermaus, Poetry Monster, 2021, Russian original
Émigrés by Anna Barkova
Émigrés both internal and external,
We, eternal migrants on the go,
Though we are keen to lull our own feelings,
Friendships fade and enmity grows.
Émigrés both internal and external,
No one waits for us or wants us anywhere —
Except for a fatherland, alien, unearthly
On a star that is still yet unborn
Анна Баркова – Эмигранты
Эмигранты внутренние, внешние,
Все мы эмигранты навсегда.
Чем бы мы порой себя ни тешили,
Гаснет дружба и растет вражда.
Эмигранты внутренние, внешние,
Не зовут нас и не ждут нигде —
Лишь в одном отечестве нездешнем,
На незародившейся звезде.
Émigrés, emigrants, immigrants, migrants and exile in a society that is gone. Individuals are left in a country and universe that has disappeared. Internal emigration of one under Bolshevism or a radically transformed society, one that had been overrun by a force both alien and evil. No promise of salvation on Earth.
- illustration by Ivan Vladimirov / Vladimiroff[↩]