Three poems from Olga Levadnaya

REVELATIONS

OF SAINT EVDOKIA

Once more Saint Evdokia

cries over the Kazan river.

Her worldly intentions

are hidden in the half-dark.

The lonely wind repeats

 and the autumn warmth

 like ash from poplars

 finds no salvation.

MEMORIES GROW OUT

OF THE CRIES OF BIRDS

I love white-faced Kazan,

whose feet

are washed by life-giving waters,

a Kremlin kissed by snow

still fragrant with autumn foliage

and the proliferation of the squares

like passionate farewells,

and the freckled houses

under the manes of silver poplars,

and the devout luminescence

of city streetlamps,

and people

grandly carrying their past

and the cries of birds

from which grow –

our memories.

THE DIVINE BREATHING

OF MEMORIES

Today we didn’t think of anything bad.

Life seemed to be easier and longer for us…

No one shared sin with themselves,

no one spared the days that flew by.

I heard voices of the past,

the river impetuously rushed into the distance

and the heavens breathed in slowly

the clouds, cold as pieces of ice.

Poet bio:

Olga Levadnaya is a world-famous Russian poet, Honored Worker of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan, laureate of republican, all-Russian, international literary awards, member of republican, Russian and international literary unions, author of 16 books of poetry and prose in Russian, English, Tatar, Turkish, translated into 14 languages, author of more than 350 publications inmagazines, anthologies in Russia and abroad, participant in numerous festivals, conferences, readings, Ambassador of Peace, member of the Assembly of the Peoples of Eurasia and Africa, honorary founding member of the World Day of K. Cavafy (Greece, Egypt), coordinator oftheInternational Literary Festival in Russia "Woman in Literature" (Mexico), creator and director of the Interregional Musical and Poetic Festival "Handshake of the Republics", International "TeleMost RR, International Youth Musical  and Poetic Competition-Festival "On the Fairytale Shore o fKazanka" based on Olga's works Levandnoy, artistic director of the Kazan poetry theater "Dialogue".