Three Robinson Crusoes in an abandoned shack, we found a real find - a single, battered book.
We three were friends and we quickly agreed to share out this treasure as Solomon decreed.
The foreword for cigarette paper: one friend was delighted with a gift so unlikely he feared he was dreaming.
The second made playing cards from the notes at the back. May his play bring him pleasure, every page bring him luck.
As for my own cut - those precious jottings, the dreams of a poet now long forgotten -
it was all that I wanted. How wisely we'd judged. What a joy to set foot in a forgotten hut.
by Варлам Тихонович Шаламов (Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov) (1949) translated by Robert Chandler
Additional Information: The poem refers to Yevgeny Abramovich Baratynsky(Евге́ний Абра́мович Бараты́нский ) who was lauded by Alexander Pushkin as the finest Russian elegiac poet. After a long period, where his reputation was on the wane, Baratynsky was rediscovered by the Russian Symbolism poets as a supreme poet of thought.
of his hump – let me tell about my orphaned state.
Behind the devil there’s his horde, behind the thief there’s his band,
behind everyone there’s someone to understand
and support him – the assurance of a living wall
of thousands just like him should he stumble and fall;
the soldier has his comrades, the emperor has his throne,
but the jester has nothing but his hump to call his own.
And so: tired of holding to the knowledge that I’m quite
alone and that my destiny is always to fight
beneath the jeers of the fool and the philistine’s derision,
abandoned – by the world – with the world – in collision,
I blow with all my strength on my horn and send
its cry into the distance in search of a friend.
And this fire in my breast assures me I’m not all
alone, but that some Charlemagne will answer my call!
by Марина Ивановна Цветаева (Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva)
(March1921)
translated by Stephen Capus
Fun facts: This poem was a favourite of Varlam Shalamov, according to Irina Sirotinskaya (she was a close friend of his and the holder of his works’ publication rights). It’s very likely he may have referenced this work in his poem Roncesvalles.
Tsvetaeva is referencing the romanticised tale of the historical figure Roland‘s death as retold in the eleventh-century poem The Song of Roland, where he is equipped with the olifant (a signalling horn) and an unbreakable sword, enchanted by various Christian relics, named Durendal. The Song contains a highly romanticized account of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass and Roland’s death, setting the tone for later fantastical depiction of Charlemagne’s court.
Rambling At The Bridge Head 