BY MARINA TSVETAYEVA
(For Sergey Efron)
(Excerpts)
1
The ringing of bells
Somewhere in the Krmlin
Somewhere on earth,
Where -
Tough keep of mine,
Shyness o'mine,
Courage o'mine,
Blessedness.
Ring the bells.
Abandoned rings.
Where on earth
My
Home,
My - dream,
My - laughter,
My light,
Steps from those narrow soles.
As if by some hand
Tossed to the night -
Ringely ring
- By me left behind.
2
Those long-ago dropped
Hands I now raise.
Through an empty black window
These emptiest hands
Which toss through the midnight
beating
Of clocks - homewards
I want! - Just like so:
Falling head-first
Into whispering, rustling...
While beneath me some young knight
Would spread out a wing.
3
Grows harder and steeper
To wring out my hands!
Between us not versts
Of the earth. Real partings,
And heavenly rivers,
And azure-tinged lands
Where my friend and I
Are forever now twining.
The highway streams out
Past the silvery harness.
I don't wring my hands!
Only stretch them -
Quite soundless! -
Like hands of an ash tree
Would wave out a parting
To a flock of cranes
Fleeting away.
And streams far the craneflock,
And streams, none glance backwards.
I won't calm my hurry!
In death's fancy dresses
I'll be arriving! as a last defense
For your quickness golden-feathered
Against the losses of space.
8
I know and I know,
That the wonder of Earth,
That this this carvéd,
This wonderful cup -
Is no more ours,
Than air,
Than the stars,
Than the nests
Suspended up there in the dawnskies.
I know and I know,
Of this cup who's the master!
But would still set forth a light leg -
As a tower up to the eagled height!
And with a wing - brush the chalice
From the rosy and thunderous lips
Of God's!
- 1921