(Translation by Yana Kane)
my city is like a patient
on the operating table
the heart—taken out of the chest—
lying nearby

the heart is still beating

the line of the cardiogram—
the roofs of the half-destroyed high-rises—

that line is not yet flat—
those buildings not yet leveled—

but its amplitude is ever lower and quieter

I have always loved to watch the sunset
the sun climbing down onto the houses
and making its way beyond the horizon
smoothly gathering and tucking in
its scarlet cloak

now I hear
the sun moaning
when it feels the sharp fragments
of buildings shattered by rockets and bombs

it even pulls away
when it touches the ruins

each day
seems longer than usual
by one church step

guillaume guillaume
sunset is not more beautiful than sunrise
only because
the sun
that rises over my city
will set
weighed down with the sadness of all it has seen

the sun nourishes life when it rises
but anticipates the sunrise with trepidation
knowing that the eastern skyline
will meet it with a new arrhythmia

I recall seeing off a sunset with my friends
on the roof of the boiler room
of the tallest building in the city
and meeting the dawn with them
after not having gone downstairs that night

holding in my hand
a wineglass I found in the boiler room
having drained it
raising it against the dawn
saying to the girlfriend
of a snoozing friend
when she compared the sky
to the color of my eyes:
Look, now the wineglass will be filled
with the pink wine of dawn
it should be drunk right away
while the nighttime chill is still on the lips…

my city
my beloved city
hold on
soon the doctors will come back
they will place the heart into the chest
the blood vessels of the subway
will fill with rhythmically moving trains
the sun will smile once again at the sight
of boulevards—well-tended
in floods of greenery and flowers—
that will show it
how to prolong its amble
above you

Andrey Kostynsky (Kharkiv, Ukraine)
Andrey Kostynsky – poet, editor. Graduated Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University and philosophical faculty of Kharkiv National University. He was published in the almanacs and magazines «Articulation», «Children of Ra», «Graphite», «Southern Lights», «Semitones», etc. Author of books «Ll”, “Rehearsal of dawn», «Iogol» and others