Poetry Dispatch No. 57 | February 27, 2006
SHADOW OF A SHEWOLF by Vasko Popa
They tell how my grandmother
The witch Sultana Urosevic’
Used to have the shadow of a shewolf
She would never leave the house
On moonlit nights
So no one could step on her shadow
Deprive her of secret powers
And kill her instantly
They tell
That I inherited from my great grandmother
These eyes and this tongue
Whether the shadow of a wolf too
I don’t know
In the moonlight
And often in the sunlight
I walk backwards
God forbid
from Selected Poems 1956-75. HOMAGE TO THE LAME WOLF, translated by Charles Simic
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