1.
someone cherished the tiny beasts,
sleek and defenseless:
the crocodile, the adder, the cat, the dog,
a couple of birds.
someone wrapped their tiny paws and wings
in expensive linen,
as if caressing them for the last time.
each one of them, even the cold-blooded ones.
now they are here, under durable glass,
in the tomb of a museum.
the bird knows: avoid
the torrents of grief, or you’ll fall through the net
of the flimsy air,
desperation will kill you.
the adder knows: don’t approach
human settlements.
only water dares peek into nothingness,
only water can be trusted.
but this is not death itself lying in front of us,
neatly wrapped in bandages.
death evaporated from the petrified bodies.
nobody caught it.
the animals come to their master
or mistress, sit in a semicircle
on the stairs leading to the throne:
the dog, the cat, the crocodile, the adder,
a couple of birds.
the cave was carved by the waves,
but the sea departed long time ago.
2.
what if nobody loved them,
what if they were not cared for?
whoever wrapped their tiny paws in linen
only did what was the custom:
the king dies, and you kill his animals.
the dog, the cat, the adder, the crocodile
and two birds. there are always birds.
who went first? did they struggle
under the knife? could they see
their limbs squeezed into decorated coffins
in the shapes of animals? could they read
the hieroglyphics?
the smell of smoke in the air.
there’s a fire burning,
coming up to the surface. evanescence
is catching up to everyone
like a thief.
there’s a fire burning, but we cannot see it.
by now it has become
a shapeless flame.
Oksana Lutsyshyna is a Ukrainian poet, writer, literary scholar and translator, author of three novels; a collection of short stories; and five collections of poetry. She was awarded the Lviv City of Literature UNESCO Prize (2020) and the Taras Shevchenko National Award in fiction (2021) in Ukraine for her novel Ivan and Phoebe, now available in English. In the recent past, she worked as an Associate Professor in Ukrainian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2025 she was the Amy Clampitt Poet-in-Residence in Lenox, Massachusetts. Her present poems were crafted thanks to the support of this residency.
