LITUANUS LITHUANIAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES   Volume 47, No. 4 - Winter 2001 Editor of this issue: M. Gražina Slavėnas ISSN 0024-5089 Copyright © 2001 LITUANUS Foundation, Inc.

DEAR BROTHER

ALFONSAS BUKONTAS
Translated by Algirdas & Joan Landsbergis

Dear brother, in my bosom I carry 
Father's and mother's graves, 
And a third small grave, yours.

On the town's crooked sidewalks 
Stars blossomed like yellow dandelions, 
And your kite lifted 
Along with the doves.

You were going on six, 
I was in my third month... 
I've outgrown you long since, 
Destined to comprehend 
What you 'II never grasp.

Yellow dandelions are blooming
And like father once, holding your small hand,
I take you,
Whom I never got to know,
Everywhere.