All rules are incorrect,
all laws remain perverse,
until they’re firmly set
in well wrought lines of verse.
An age or era will
be merely a stretch of time
without a meaning until
it’s glorified in rhyme.
Until the poet’s ‘Yes!’,
entrusted by his pen
to print, award success
to this or that – till then
the jury will be out,
the verdict still in doubt.
by Борис Абрамович Слуцкий (Boris Abramovich Slutsky)
(early 1960s)
translated by Stephen Capus
All rules are incorrect,
all laws remain perverse,
until they’re firmly set
in well-wrought lines of verse.
An age or era will
be merely a stretch of time
without a meaning until
it’s glorified in rhyme.
Until the poet’s ‘Yes!’,
entrusted by his pen
to print, awards success
to this or that – till then
the jury will be out,
the verdict still in doubt.
by Борис Абрамович Слуцкий (Boris Abramovich Slutsky)
(early 1960s)
translated by Stephen Campus
Rambling At The Bridge Head 