"Osip Mandelstam. Tristia (tranlsation by Ilya Shambat) (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

Before the razor blade of your despair,

My God! Like by a dancing snake I'm falling
Exhausted, and before her I am meek;
My soul's salvation I am not extolling
The reason or the muse I do not seek.

Enough untying with my wits or essence
A finely woven yarn of smart replies
There are no words for laments and confessions,
Heavy and shallow is my cup of lies.

Why do you breathe? On stones you will be dancing,
Sick python you, then curling in a ball;
Next moment swing and twist as if romancing,
And instantly in expiration fall.

And uselessly the day of execution,
Agape at all the sound and all the sight,
I listen as has fearlessly come completion,
The screech of metal and the wind's dark might!



x x x
Today is an ominous day:
Grasshoppers singing is down
And shadow of rocks far away
Is darker than funeral gown.

There's jingle of shimmering beams
And screams of crows grown wise,
I dream terrible dreams
Moment past moment flies.

Move skeins of events apart
Break through a tectonic plate
An anthem of rage impart
The copper of secret hate!

The pendulum on the clock
Of souls is strict, swinging o'er,
And zealously sounds the knock
Of fate on forbidden door.



x x x

I feel a fear that I cannot defy