Somewhere else there’s a different life

• translated by Yana Kane, edited by Bruce Esrig
• russian text: https://kopilkapoetry.org/?p=782

Life which is simply life
Somewhere else there’s a different life
Life that’s entirely death
Death is a river that rolls on slowly
Stars glow in the depths
Life is a sturdy raft made of pine
Stars glow overhead

But here… at times, it’s not this and not that
At times, it is this and that
Like coffee to go
Such dreadful stuff, it’s fit to pour on the snow
Life—a small basket woven from grass—
Is suspended in empty space
Death is a rubber pail—it has space
Enough to fit everyone.

Sveta Ben

Sveta Ben´ (a.k.a Ben´ka, b. 1975) is a Vitebsk-born Belarusian poet, singer, stage director and political activist. Since 2005, she has been performing as the frontwoman of the freak-cabaret band Serebryanaya Svad´ba. Sveta is an author of several volumes of poetry.