Poem
Ivan Malkovych
The Man
He puts on a jester’s mask –they recognize him.
He dresses in the robe of a merciless judge –
they implore:
“Stop it. As if it’s you.”
He changes into a fox –
they yell:
“We recognized you long ago.
Enough.”
He wraps himself in Don Juan’s cloak –
they laugh:
“Not that style.”
He stretches on a chameleon’s mask –
and tears off that façade himself:
comical
lost man –
he can’t understand
that in every mask
is a slit
for eyes.
© Translation: 2004, Olena Jennings
THE MAN
© 1985, Ivan Malkovych
From: The Key
Publisher: Molod’, Kyiv
From: The Key
Publisher: Molod’, Kyiv
Poems
Poems of Ivan Malkovych
Close
The Man
He puts on a jester’s mask –they recognize him.
He dresses in the robe of a merciless judge –
they implore:
“Stop it. As if it’s you.”
He changes into a fox –
they yell:
“We recognized you long ago.
Enough.”
He wraps himself in Don Juan’s cloak –
they laugh:
“Not that style.”
He stretches on a chameleon’s mask –
and tears off that façade himself:
comical
lost man –
he can’t understand
that in every mask
is a slit
for eyes.
© 2004, Olena Jennings
From: The Key
From: The Key
The Man
He puts on a jester’s mask –they recognize him.
He dresses in the robe of a merciless judge –
they implore:
“Stop it. As if it’s you.”
He changes into a fox –
they yell:
“We recognized you long ago.
Enough.”
He wraps himself in Don Juan’s cloak –
they laugh:
“Not that style.”
He stretches on a chameleon’s mask –
and tears off that façade himself:
comical
lost man –
he can’t understand
that in every mask
is a slit
for eyes.
© 2004, Olena Jennings
Sponsors
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère