TE15 Lithuanian Honey Cake

Terribly in Love

FAREWELL BLUES (Marina Granovskaya)

I was born for music, for music chosen by Euterpe, My life lilting in listeners’ ears. I am only a voice, Only the ballast among rats abandoning ship. Who will listen if someone takes catastrophe’s place? Crowds of admirers, roses wrapped in cellophane — for a corpse, Glory like the clink of the coins that buy me moreMarlboros. I soak in the bath (since I fear I will dirty my voice) To purify myself, but it is still myself I accuse: Marina, you should not be living here Where other hands jingle the gold in your voice, Where the life we barely touch murders us Like a shared needle, where I have such fear. Marina, you ought not know the sorrow here Of sovietique femme, but there beyond the clouds Where the impresario angel rubs his hands In this closed cosmos, I’ll leave you an encore! I am only a voice, a voice inimitable, As singular as destiny and no less precious. I will be innocent if it draws you into a whirlpool: Already I have given back everything, and been left hoarse. When nothing is left, no money, no glory, no friends, When I wake trapped in solitude like a fly in amber, Then switch on the radio, and if I still have strength to rise I will live in your ears like blues you’ve never heard before. Translated by H. L. Hix and the author

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