Yuli Gugolev Reads a Poem

I look for the resurrection of the dead.

A Jew hears about the three wishes and sayst to the
golden fish, "I want a Rolls-Royce, a house in Florida, five
million euros and a beautiful, young, complaisant wife with a
great body—that's number one…"

You know very well how it goes on:
Caught unawares by late-night gloom,
Converastaion and verse dwindle to silence,
But nobody has the will or resilience
So late at night to start clearing the room,
And the hostess, herself stifling a yawn,
Brings the teapot to the table again.

"My time's up, gang. Got to hit the road."
"Yes we'll be going…!" "Look, more tea?"
Now I can't help thinking about it,
I have trouble containing myself, a wish:
"Look for, me?" "The resurrection of the dead."
"Of course!" And having made my bargain
Like the Jew in the joke with the golden fish:
"That's number one," I throw in right away.

The books are asleep, maybe the time
Has come for us, too, to rejoice as seed
In the loam of the flowerbeds of Orcus.
You're saying, no need to be bedridden?
So what do we make of this holy mess?
And why do we tuck ourselves in, then,
Like letters into empty envelopes?

Who was it then keeping tabs on us?
And why do we crawl, yawning, into bed?
Waiting for—
The resurrection of the dead.
There's only one line in the world up here,
You see, but not yet completely alive.