There were so many apples – you could slide on them!
So my brother and I slid to the tank –
he started fishing with a twig
and said we’d catch some crucians.
I was afraid to dip my hands in water –
some silt darkened in there;
a spider web had already gotten wet in the corner,
and drops of water rolled over it like quicksilver.

I sent a beetle sailing –
it didn’t drown, but was not inclined to row,
didn’t make waves,
just slightly jerked a pair of legs in silence.
Under the plum tree and the bush of raspberry,
some soup thickly boiled in a big pot,
and a wagtail ran across the vegetable beds,
cheerfully balancing with its tail.

My beetle was still floating,
but my brother seemed to give up fishing.
And another apple, seeking for freedom,
thudded down into the grass…

(Translated by Sergey Gerasimov from Russian.)

Elena Nailyevna is an author from Russia.