GALINA ITALYANSKAYA

 

Only Your Heart

 

One day at midnight I’ll whisper the truth

Quietly into your ear –

Only your heart will hear.

 

Words are deceitful, lies sound smooth

Trapping your mind with the flow…

Only your heart will know.

 

Only your heart will best recognize,

At any time, day or night,

Whether it’s black or white.

 

Only your heart is that loving and wise.

Trust me, it will never cheat.

Listen, listen to it!

 

Fighting The Dragon

 

I wouldn’t throw a stone at you.

Don’t wait for my reproof.

I’ve seen a more impressive queue

Of those who stood aloof

To change my weird point of view

And make me mortal too.

You took me wrong. But only few

Сan hear me as you do.

 

I won’t rip out my heart for that

It loves and can forgive

The one who hasn’t found me yet,

But cursed the way I live,

Who calls me to betray my folk

And my ancestral graves.

I wish you knew what you invoke

And whom you praise as braves.

 

My knight, you want me to agree

On who is good or bad.

Perhaps you dream to set me free,

But rather make me dead.

You plan to kill my dragon guard.

Alas, nobody knows:

The dragon is to save my heart

From vain and greedy foes.

 

A lot of cowards, fools, and crooks

Have asked for my hand.

Despite their swords, despite their looks

They met a shameful end.

I am no prisoner for life.

Nobody locked my tower.

And to be honest, only love

Can be the real power.

 

The War

 

What do you need to hate a monster

And wish him death?

How dreadful must have been he once to

Take out your breath?

What an enormous threat is shown on

His smiling face,

How many weak points of your own,

To your disgrace?

 

The Universe reflects your soul,

The ways you think,

And if your thoughts are mean and foul,

You smell the stink.

When you are gracious, in reply

You get one’s help.

When you admit someone must die,

You kill yourself.

 

It’s rather hard for all of us,

No matter what,

To stare into the looking glass

We call the World

We lose illusive wars outside,

But who will win

The only war that’s worth of fight,

The war within?

 

Frankly Speaking

 

Another break of day – another try to talk.

I see it's hard to you to pick up clever words.

It's all been said before, my little groundhog,

It all, and even more, much more than pride affords.

 

And all your precious gems, as far as you can see,

Have never made a change, however much you spoke,

As if against the wind one's paddling through the sea,

And cannot move an inch in spite of all the work.

 

You watch me all my life and count my sins aloud.

No doubts, there are more than seven on my list.

No doubts, you can judge. If I lived on the cloud,

I'd have already killed me thrice or twice at least.

 

Because it's vastly easier to target from above

Where everything is clear despite the overcast.

But you're much too kind or just too much in love.

You simply contemplate how long the game can last.

 

I guess, it won't be long: I haven't learnt to fly,

And I can't sing my song directly from the stage.

It's only in my dreams, where I am able to cry.

In real life my voice is locked into the cage.

 

But what if even you can't realize the truth?

What if you see its face, but fail to recognize?

I guess, that were it fate, you wouldn't need my proofs,

You wouldn't be so blind up there in your skies.

 

Almighty God sometimes can't jump above His head.

Yet you can laugh at me, and I will laugh with you.

And maybe it will help to stop me going mad,

For, frankly speaking, I have nothing more to do.

 

GALINA ITALYANSKAYA

 

GALINA ITALYANSKAYA: She is 46 years old. Born in the USSR in a small northern town, now living in Russia with her children and working as an English teacher. Since the early childhood she’s been in love with nature: dense forests, rivers and lakes, mountains and seas. She has travelled a lot, and it’s always a source of inspiration. Her other hobbies are photography and art. She loves to draw pictures, and she hardly can imagine going on a trip or just for a walk without a camera. Galina has written poetry since her school years. About 15 years ago she composed

her first poem in English, inspired by her friend from abroad. And thanks to poetry she found good friends all over the world.