(Sound poetry. The original Ukrainian text operates through phonetic texture – onomatopoeia, alliteration, invented sonic compounds – which cannot be directly translated. This is an approximate rendering that attempts to preserve the acoustic logic rather than the literal meaning.)
Sh-sh-silk shushes: “sy-li-lyum… si-la…”
Ding-dong — the purling pupil of nil.
Br-r-um — the drums wander within me,
Lu-lu-lure — an echo tickles in the silence-blue.
Tr-r-trembles the cane: it touched — weaves a shadow,
Velvet — velveteens the mute deep.
Ph-ph-flutes flutter — fluid-fluid,
Clot-inflorescence coils the singing-ice.
Zh-zh — heat-womb, yellow-play-slag, sinewy life,
Sil-silver sifts: s-s — the core of being’s dreams.
Click — the circle calls, through the cradle-ring,
Pulse-pearly flows, refracting the canvas.
Sss — sifting stillness sings without an “I”,
No-no-nil — naming goes numb, the name passes by.
Breeze-azure, shimmer-shimmers my world —
I am — and am — and am — without beginning, without years.
The sound has burned out. Only the echo — into eternity and fragments.