T a l k i e s

You are great in love.
You are bold.
My every step is timid.
I’ll do nothing bad to you,
but can hardly do you any good.

It seems you are leading me
off the beaten path through a forest.
Now we’re up to our waist in wildflowers.
I don’t even know what flowers they are.
Past experience is of no help here.

I don’t know what to do or how.
You’re tired.
You ask to be carried in my arms.
Already you’re in my arms.

“Do you see how blue the sky is?
Do you hear what birds are in the forest?
Well, what are you waiting for?
Well? Carry me then!”
And where shall I carry you?…

Poetry of Yevgeny Yevtushenko