BardicTranslationRoughs/Sterkh

[1]

Where the link between sun and bird was severed by the hand of a monkey
Where stars, strawberries and skulls lie scattered on the ground
Where the cloying mists foreshadow the mosses of the hidden deep
Where blasphemy is as prayer
There I walk

Where trees intertwined with words form annals, echoing back to the beginning
Where the forest's book of hours is enciphered in tongues of flame
Where the road is wide, the night dark and the deeds wild
Where the icons hide glinting knives
There I walk

Where the dawns bathe in village wells and frozen puddles
Where frost weds the spring rain in the soil
Where a draught is reward for another day lived in the sleepless night
Where the crosses were sold for drink
There I walk

Where sun-filled hope hides in secret songs
Where the thunder-queen dances on lightning-spokes
Where the moon sucks at the soul like a leech
Where love is sent to work the streets
There I walk

Where the east feeds the milk of its mares to the wandering wind
Where the roads to Ostrog are long
Where the knee-deep dirt and the throat-deep blood cools on the ground
Where the crucifix is crushed underfoot
There I walk

Where the silence is as a racing horse-herd, freedom underhoof
Where the sunset carves a golden bridge between sky and pain
Where the prophets are flighty and credulous as mirrors
Where the outhouse is respected as a shrine
There I walk