Now Always Snow
to N.B.
like snow the Lord is all there is
when all there is is snow
when the soul is all there is
the snows the soul and light
but still just this
that there are those
like death is all there is
to know that they are even here
darkness is also part of light
when the snows come again
Oh-God-Again-The-Snows
as maybe all that is to come
but there is no way to know for sure
as corpses do and do not exist
oh there is the Papier-Mache-Country
no question what it means to exist
when The People is a verb
that means to not exist
and what does it mean to exist
what's the point of this being
even the Holy Face is just a Mold
that is as if there only is
the country that is Darkness-and-Holy-Face
Epoch-Is-A-Corpse
but there is one thing that exists
when these are suddenly no more
— oh God again the snows! —
they are not just as this one thing is
only Numbness Country
they are such that they are and are not
and only by virtue of this exist
but there are things that only are
a whirlwind as if by a miracle is
in a moment Death-Country is no more
oh God again the snows
the soul the snows and light
oh God again the snows
but should it be that they are not
the snows my friend the snows
the soul and light and snow
oh God again the snows
and snow is all there is
_________________
Gennady Aygi
Into the Snow
translated by Sarah Valentine
Wave Books
2011
