“It is difficult / to get the news from poems / yet men die miserably every day / for lack / of what is found there.” William Carlos Williams
LYUBA YAKIMCHUK
Died of Old Age
granddad and granny passed away
they died on the same day
at the same hour
at the same moment —
people said, they died of old age
their hen met its end
and so did their goat and their dog
(their cat was out)
and people said, they died of old age
their cottage fell apart
their shed turned into ruins
and the cellar got covered with dirt
people said, everything collapsed from old age
their children came to bury the granddad and granny
Olha was pregnant
Serhiy was drunk
and Sonya was only three
they all perished, too
and people said, they died of old age
the cold wind plucked yellow leaves and buried beneath them
the granddad, the granny, Olha, Serhiy and Sonya
who all died of old age
Translated from the Ukrainian by Anatoly Kudryavitsky