Up out of an evil clinging pool (Mandelstam)

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Up out of an evil clinging pool… ⧼written by⧽ Osip Mandelstam

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From Stone. See also Poems. Translated from Russian by Rosamund Bartlett and Gerard McBurney. Из омута злого и вязкого…

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Up out of an evil clinging pool
I grew, whispering like a reed,
Breathing the forbidden life
Passionately, languidly and tenderly.

And I bend over back into the cold refuge of the swamp,
Marked by no-one,
Met by the welcoming rustle
Of the brief autumnal moments.

I'm happy with this cruel affront
And in this dream-like life
I envy every other secretly
And am secretly in love with each.

1910

© Rosamund Bartlett and Gerard McBurney, translation