Saturday 4 June 2011

I Was Torn out of Life So Dreary

It's my first attempt at translating classic russian poetry. The original poem was written by Nikolai Gumilev in 1917.


I was torn out of life so dreary
Of life so scarce, and life so plain
By beauty torturing and daring
And inescapable again

And then I died and saw a fire
That I had never seen before
And hurtful for my blinded eye
A blue star shined in great galore

And morphing both spirit and body
A tune was climbing high to wane
That talk and tingle was, I got it,
Your blood’s lute-like descanting say

And smell was lurid and was sweeter
Than anything I’d ever find
Than even lily’s, which won’t wither
In garden heavenly divine

And suddenly from depths so shiny
The face of earth appeared again
And like a wounded bird, and stunning
You trembled in my frightened hand

You told me you were agonizing
But what then do I do so far
When finally I’m realizing
That you are nothing but blue star

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