More sluggish the snowy hive (Mandelstam/Kline)

«More sluggish the snowy hive…» автор Osip Mandelstam (1891—1938), transl. A. S. Kline (b. 1947)

Источник: www.poetryintranslation.com • In Russian: «Медлительнее снежный улей…».First printed in "Apollon", 1910. From Stone (No. 6). See also Poems.

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More sluggish the snowy hive,
clearer the window’s crystal,
on a chair, a turquoise veil,
thrown there, carelessly, lies.

A tissue, self-intoxicated,
as if it never felt winter’s
touch, experiencing summer’s,
by its own delicacy, caressed:

and, if in icy diamonds
frost is eternally streaming,
here — it’s dragonflies flickering,
blue-eyed, living, and gone.

1910

Notes

© A. S. Kline, translation. Can be reproduced if non-commercial.

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