Poem: Firing Back — Aleksandr Gangnus
Firing Back . . .
— Aleksandr Gangnus
Translated by Bradley Jordan
Firing back at my heavy heart,
I longed to run, run far away,
but the stars are too high, too far apart,
and for the stars there’s a lot to pay.
***
This poem is carved on Gangnus’ headstone in Vagankovksy Cemetery, Moscow. I have not been able to find a reference page for him in English. He was the father of Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Gangnus was a geologist by profession, and a poet in his heart.
