SONYA SABANAC

In Vain
(Cry for my baby-boy)

I waited for you like one who lies ill
between life and death in the long winter
awaiting the first bud on the bare branch.

I waited for you so I could forgive our destiny
that, instead of our own,
we live as shadows in somebody else’s home.

I waited for you so I could finally embrace life
and say to God: "Thank you, now I need
nothing more."

But then, on the wall
across from my hospital bed,
the shadow of the Angel of Death
and these eyes of mine,
frozen,
sank
into the abyss.