Poems by Kostas Kubilinskas
(1923 – 1962)



TRIOLETS

Cranes

Cranes creak in the sky
With tired wings.
Lift your eyes up –
Cranes creak in the sky ...

Gravel shines yellow and white
In the sun, –
Cranes creak in the sky
With tired wings.

Translated by Jonas Zdanys


Linden

Summer smells like linden.
Orchards along the road rustle.
Downwind you can smell
The honey melted linden.

Two bees
Gather honey from the appletree.
Summer smels like linden.
Orchards along the road rustle.

Translated by Jonas Zdanys


Ground

Just put your ear to the ground,
My friend ... Do you hear?
And you'll ask nothing,
Just put your ear to the ground ...

You'll feel your heart beating
In the earth mother's bosom,
Just put your ear to the ground,
My friend ... Do you hear?

Translated by Jonas Zdanys


Childhood

My childhood – like a dog
In the stubble-field – rattling
Its frozen teeth near the herd ...
My childhood – like a dog.

That's why the lonely green poplar
Always rustles my pain.
My childhood – like a dog
In a stubble-field – near the herd.

Translated by Jonas Zdanys



Kostas Kubilinskas was born in a village near the city of Vilkaviškis and studied at the Pedagogical Institute in Vilnius. Before his death in 1962 he published a number of books for children.