Two

A lyric poet who was born in 1915 and studied at the Literary Institute of the Soviet Writers’ Union, Margarita Aliger was awarded a Stalin Prize for her long poem, ZOYA. She is one of the most audacious women now writing in the U.S.S.R.

by MARGARITA ALIGER

And so once more they quarrel in the trolley;
Their anger, flaring, will not let them see
That they stand stripped before a crowd of strangers.
Helpless and hurt, I watch them enviously.

They do not know their happiness; there’s no one
To show it to them, tell them what is plain:
Think! You are next each other, breathing, speaking,
And it can still come right for you again.

Translated by Babette Deutsch and Avrahm Yarmolinsky.