Newly reaped ears of early wheat
lie in level rows;
fingertips tremble, pressed against
fingers fragile as themselves.
by Осип Эмильевич Мандельштам (Osip Emilyevich Mandelshtam. His surname is commonly latinised as Mandelstam)
(1909)
translated by James Greene
The pillow’s just as hot
when I turn it over.
And now a second candle
is guttering, and crows
are cawing louder than ever.
Not a wink… And it’s too late
even to think of sleep.
White, blindingly white –
a blind on a white window.
Good morning!
by Анна Ахматова (Anna Akhmatova)
(1909)
from Вечер (Evening, 1912)
translation by Robert Chandler
An alternate version of the same poem as D. M. Thomas’ translation The Pillow Hot…
Through the closed nursery doors, the sugar angel
stares through the chink to see
the children playing at the Christmas party,
the brightly candled tree.
Nana is making up the crackling fire,
a blaze for Christmas Day.
Only the sugar angel – he is German –
wastes, warm and sweet, away.
First comes the softening of his little feathers,
the melting of his feet,
the tiny head falls back, he makes a puddle,
minute and warm and sweet.
And then the puddle dries away. The mistress
looks everywhere in vain,
while old deaf Nana, who remembers nothing,
grumbles and looks again.
You fragile creatures of our dearest daydreams!
Break, melt and vanish away
in the bright-burning blaze of hourly happenings,
the clatter of everyday.
Only a little mischevious girl, recalling
the breath of days departed,
will weep for you in secret for a moment.
A child is tender-hearted.
by Александр Александрович Блок (Alexander Alexandrovich Blok)
(1909)
translated by Frances Cornford and Esther Polianowsky Salaman
A dusty waste-plot by the cemetery,
Behind it, a river flashing blue.
You said to me: ‘Go get thee to a nunnery,
Or get a fool to marry you…’
Well, princes are good at such speeches,
As a girl is quick to tears, –
But may those words stream like an ermine mantle
Behind him for ten thousand years.
– by Анна Ахматова (Anna Akhmatova) (1909, Kiev)
– from Вечер (Evening, 1912), translation by D. M. Thomas
Rambling At The Bridge Head 