Animal-Flower

A presentiment of life lives on till death.
A chilling fire burns along the bones –
When a bright shower passes over
On St Peter's day at break of summer.
Scarlet blooms are just about to flower
On collarbones, on ribs, upon the head.
The cluster will be tagged Elena arborea –
Its habitat is freezing Hyperborea
In gardens made of brick, in grass of stone.
Eyes sprout dark carnations.
I'm at once A bush of roses and forget-me-nots
As if a savage gardener'd grafted on me
A virulent florescing leprosy.
I will be violet and red,
Crimson, yellow, black and gold,
Inside a perilous humming cloud
Of bees and wasps I'll be a sacred well.
And when my flowers fade,
O Lord, O Lord, What a bitten lump there'll be left over,
Grown cold and with its skin split wide,
A faded, half-dead Animal-Flower.

Translated from the Russian by Michael Molnar