I Gaze at My Mountains

[Translator’s Note: Ivan Malkovych is a Ukrainian poet and the founder of A-Ba-Ba-Ha-La-Ma-Ha, a children’s book publishing house in Ukraine. A native of the Hutsul region, Malkovych grew up surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains. This translation into English, by Mark Andryczyk and Yaryna Yakubyak, first appeared in The White Chalk of Days: The Contemporary Ukrainian Literature Series Anthology published by Academic Studies Press in 2017.–Mark Andryczyk]

The Carpathian mountains, where Ivan Malkovych grew up. As the Washington Post recently reported, tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees have fled to these mountains since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to the BBC there are now more than 3.6 million Ukrainian refugees in nearby countries, and an estimated 6.5 million displaced within Ukraine itself as the invasion continues. [Photo] Yarema Protsiv

I Gaze at My Mountains

I gaze at my mountains
as if I were dying tomorrow

I want to absorb all there is

even this little potato plant
which has laid something
into the ground
like a chicken

and this poppy
like a carnival

–Ivan Malkovych

[For one list of aid organizations to donate to in order to assist Ukrainians as the Russian invasion continues, see this article by Time Out. And for other suggestions for ways to help, including attending protests against the Russian invasion and writing representatives and other politicians, see the list compiled by Razom for Ukraine: linktr.ee/RazomForUkraine.–Ed.]