{"id":102317,"date":"2024-04-09T19:44:28","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T17:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acosopov.com\/reading-room\/poetry-shelf\/%d0%b3%d0%bb%d0%b5%d0%b4%d0%b0%d1%87-%d0%b2%d0%be-%d0%bf%d0%b5%d0%bf%d0%b5%d0%bb%d1%82%d0%b0\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T19:15:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T18:15:53","slug":"reader-of-the-ashes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.acosopov.com\/en\/reading-room\/poetry-shelf\/reader-of-the-ashes\/","title":{"rendered":"Reader of the Ashes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\t\t\tReader of the Ashes\t<\/h1>\n\tBurn out, song, in the fire you ignited.
\nThe word explodes, disappears, into ashes of flint.
\nReader of the ashes, did you note the primordial drama
\narising from the depths of this dark origin?\nI snatched you, song, from the beak of the bird flying in my blood,
\nfrom the red sky of my veins inflamed and pulsating,
\nfrom the wires of two irreconcilable worlds,
\nthose sunrises with their indecipherable phases.\nI snatched you from the wrath of icons, from those illegible gammas,
\nfrom the thunder off the spear of the stone-fused warrior,
\nfrom the dream of those loftier than the dream that betrays them
\nand those who are reborn after once having perished.\nNow we are two worlds, two adversaries, two warring sides,
\nnow we are war with no exit, dagger to dagger.
\nWho loses? Who wins? Who, with the dawning of wounds clarified?
\nBurn out, song, in the fire you ignited. \n\tAco \u0160opov<\/a>,\u00a0Reader of the Ashes<\/em><\/a>, 1970
\nTranslated from the Macedonian by Christina E. Kramer and Rawley Grau,\u00a0The Long Coming of the Fire<\/em><\/a>, Dallas, Deep Vellum, 2023.\n\t

Listen to the poem in Macedonian<\/p>\n\t\t