[translated from the Russian]

“...love lives,
breathes — suffocates...
flies — drowns...
rejoices — despairs...
screams — bleeds —
scabs over — tears open...
stays out all night —
(stays IN all night!)...
is a beacon through the darkness —
and a shadow all the day...

“...and we fed each other grapes,
safe in the ambient of each’s other,
as we talked and laughed and loved
all through the night...
— after all that has passed...
the dashed hopes of dreams undone,
the ravages of wars unwon by either —
at last, a reconciliation...
though clearly there is yet
more fire than mere friendship
can contain...

“A kiss in the darkness
reawakens a soulful unity
from across the endless abyss
of years gone by...
caressing hands hungry
to relearn every inch,
as flesh is enmeshing —
bodies conjoined —
writhing — wrangling —
grinding — pounding —
she gasps, screams her ecstasy,
baring her claws —
shredding flesh to claim me
in the eucharist of my blood —
as if our bodies might,
an are our souls,
be one...

“...but things are different now —
I don’t know why...
I’m still me — ever after,
as always before —
and wondering what that means...
we might have been happy...
if I weren’t so closed —
if she wasn’t so free...
I want to be dazzled by her light,
warmed by her fire...
I need to feel her flesh to my flesh
just to feel complete —
even as I feel her soul
burning all through me...
yet, in this life — after all
that has been, is, or might be —
I still don’t know who she is.”