Fate is the Empress of the World

For Tom and Sarra

beyond the clouded glass the engine rumbles still

monotonously

from time to time someone’s involuntary movement

crackles like wood in a fire

on the seat opposite Sarra has nestled

into Tom’s slight figure

and watches over her sweet sleep

for a long time now your words on Skype

have ranked themselves like soldiers before our future

the bus passes through some kind of hole

and the small soldiers suddenly jump

the friend beside me slowly raises his forehead like an eyelid:

I remember that he recently read his poems

in a refurbished mental health centre

Sarra is already truly asleep and the shape

the two of them form brings peace

Translated by Tom Phillips

The Bulgarian text first appeared in Празна зора/Empty dawn (Small Stations Press, 2019)