By candlelight,
in midday dark, I’ll warm
your words beside the stove;
frost’s bitten them.
Frost’s wordless spell
had made your letter dumb.
The letters melt, drip tears;
calling me home.
by Варлам Тихонович Шаламов (Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov)
(1952?)
translated by Robert Chandler
