So I was wondering how they crossed that seabed
When the whole watery firmament was combed, wave to floor
And the squelch, squelch, squelch, and the walls on either side
Going up and up like a great aquatic corridor
The babies were carried, the older children, I'm sure
Fell behind, shouting: Look! Look what I've found!
Was it really possible to walk the watery course
Without stopping once to lift a shell's pink round?
What wonders they must have seen on that bed!
The tentacles that jutted from the walls like booms
And yet not all of them knew why they fled
Nor remembered that behind them lay their doom.
And when the prophet Mariam beat on her tambour
And the sea walls bent, and with a tidal roar
Crushed the Egyptians, their horses, swept, destroyed —
Did they shudder, even briefly, before they danced for joy?
Marina Boroditskaya (born 1954) Russia
Translated by Sasha Dugdale
Source: Cardinal Points
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