Trafika Europe 13 - Russian Ballet

Ten poems

Troy

to tomas venclova

Can you believe it (said my friend) all of Troy Out of a space not much bigger than this Little square, this small playground for tots, So that, when the enraged Achilles lapped it three times, He didn’t lose all that much breath Catching up with the offender... Then I imagined this Little Troy as it got covered in dust, overgrown With vegetation, and I have to admit, I grew quiet. Can you believe it, all of Troy Begins with this small courtyard, this sandlot... I don’t know what a historian would say But I’m quite pleased to wonder aloud If greatness is not sooner scaled to the heart

Than to anything very enormous. So it was with Hector, Odysseus, Little doubt, it’s the same way today.

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