Requiem for a Village

Припять, Украйна 26 Апреля 1986 г. В 1:23:58 часов Pripyat, Ukraine 26 April 1986 At 1:23:58 A.M.

We slept with windows open that night, Our lovely land exhaling scents of pine and earth. The twins – Yurochka and Annushka – had played For hours in the sandy soil and now murmured softly in their sleep. Next week would be easy – Workers’ International Solidarity Days Would give Thursday and Friday as gifts of feasting and fishing. At sunrise today, we’d go catch small fry Where the power plant outflow pours into the cooling pond A mile from the Chornobyl No. 4 electric power station. We’d use the small fish to bait our hooks When we went after perch and pike on the Pripyat River During the holidays. The waters teemed with life. And so our little world glided happily along in delicious spring. We were as children skipping through the woods With no inkling of perils we could not see, hear, touch, taste. Two sharp detonations from Chornobyl No. 4 Stopped the clock for our poor village For the next twenty-five thousand years, Although for many the grace period was much shorter. We stared at the pyrotechnics several miles away, Like mice caught in the stare of Gadyuka, the viper, While isotopes of death gathered in our hair, On our clothes, in our childrens’ thyroid glands. Did you know ionizing radiation can give you an all-over tan, Even if you’re wearing clothes?