Yelena Dubrovina is the author of two books of poetry: "Preludes to the Rain" and "Beyond the Line of No Return" and of many literary essays. In addition to this, with Dr. Hilary Koprowski, she has  co-authored a novel "In Search of Van Dyck." From 1983 - 1991, She was on the editorial board of the poetry and art almanac Vstrechi/Encounters.

THE MUSIC OF AN ANGEL

The music of the heart had been lost in the skies,
Ascending from cosmos and drown inside.
It's weeping, it's crying, it's begging for help.
It pains with emotion of perishing elm.

It is incantation, the music of dreams,
The flux of incubus and flow of whims.
Incoherent sounds had grown in heart,
The music is timeless and spacious as art.

Incursion of feelings and flow of warmth,
Descending from soul, it falls on the earth.
The thunder, the rainbow, the glimmering rays,
All colors of music had perished in space.

I wander around. Incessant despair.
It comes from the distance or even nowhere,
The music of hatred, the music of love,
The music of an angel is playing above.

----------------------
Mouthpiece. Cigarette.
I am covered with the curls of smoke.
It happens now, it happened before.
Oh, I wish it were.
I am in clouds of smoke --
Purple ash, purple evening.
I woke.
Beneath the window,
The wind is wandering in cold.
A cigarette I hold,
In curls of smoke,
Discovering the purple night
When somebody brings me the light
To lit my cigarette.
And yet,
I am confused.
It happened now or long before
Or if it were.