Making Jam

A woman who's making jam in July
is resigned to living with her husband.
She won't escape with her lover, secretly.
Otherwise, why boil up fruit with sugar?
and observe, how willingly she does it,
as a labour of love,
even though space is at a premium
and there's nowhere to store the jars.

A woman who's making jam in July
is preparing to be around for a while.
She intends to soldier on, to hibernate
through the discomforts of winter.
Otherwise, for what reason, and notice,
not out of any feeling of duty,
should she be spending the short summer
skimming residue off jam?

A woman who's making jam in July
in all the chaos of a steamy kitchen,
isn't going to be absconding to the West
or buying a ticket to the States.
That woman will be scrambling out of snowdrifts,
buoyed up by the savour of the fruit.
Whoever's making jam in Russia
knows there isn't any way out.

-- Inna Kabysh (trans. Fay Marshall)