Let me my Lord
regain my voice
attain my choice
in your unaltered fate and might
let me regain myself in spite
of being a mere opportunity of being
not yet fulfilled
take mercy on my labors and toils
on the way to non-existent
perfectioning of one’s self
the louder your voice in
the deafening thunder of nights
the darker the darkness in which
you abide

receive me in your embrace
as a brother-groom
or a sister-bride

Take mercy on the bleeding one
who has no rest
from ruthless truth
and silence of hereafter
of things
of things to come of us
in days of harvesting and toil

let us spoil
nothing with haste or pride
by search of lands and landscapes
that stretch far and wide
let them not enthrall
forgive
us all

In zest and zeal
in shadowy abode
in tolling bells
I searched your grace
Oh, merciful master
in craftsmanship and toil
in love and hate and forgiveness
in lovers’ embrace
in nothingness
in harmful charms

but there is nothing like your
acceptance
and love

Let me my Lord
regain my voice
attain my choice
in your unaltered fate and might

Nazarii Nazarov, born in 1990 in a small village in the steppes, now lives in Kyiv, Ukraine, where he teaches languages and writes his poetry in several languages. His English poems and translations have appeared in E-ratio, Alluvium, and Eunoia, and are forthcoming elsewhere on the web.