Trafika Europe 13 - Russian Ballet

Maria Stepanova

“Ah, daughter, you and I didn’t know That our Alexei, long-gone, Was living in an unheated basement, Half-forgotten by everyone. And that you yourself didn’t recognize That it was your fiancé and husband, Well, this life is a great big hall, Lots of souls go strolling across it. And that his unrussian features Are yellower than an orange, That is also explainable: You and I are no longer the same. We’re out of fashion, like the trams, We’ve hung on till strands of grey. While he, like a waxen lamp, Glows in the basement alone.”

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