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Stork
Collapsed upon a hill, a stork
dreams of green shores.
He imagines he is back
with the migrating flock.
During the long flight he fell,
and no one caught him in their wings.
He shivers . . . and thinks it is a dream—
this first snowflake which caresses him.
Aco Šopov, Merge with the Silence, 1955
Translated from the Macedonian by Christina E. Kramer and Rawley Grau, The Long Coming of the Fire, Dallas, Deep Vellum, 2023.