The Hearth by R. S. Thomas

In front of the fire

With you, the folk song

Of the wind in the chimney and the sparks’

Embroidery of the soot – eternity

Is here in this small room

In intervals that our love

Widens; and outside

Us is time and the victims

Of time, travellers

To a new Bethlehem, statesmen

And scientists with their hands full

Of the gifts that destroy.

 

by R. S. Thomas

from H’m (1972)

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Careful, Puss, There’s An Owl by Anna Akhmatova

Careful, puss, there’s an owl

embroidered on the chair.

Grey puss, don’t growl –

or Grandpa will hear.

The candle’s gone out;

there are mice on the stair.

I’m afraid of the owl.

Nanny, who put it there?

 

by Анна Ахматова (Anna Akhmatova)

(1911)

translation by Robert Chandler