A few nights ago, quite by accident, I ran across an English “poem version” of a Russian poem written by the Russian poet Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam (January 15, 1891 – December 27, 1938).  I did not quite understand the English version of the poem, but it was interesting enough that it made me look for the original Russian version of it, mind you that I do not know anything about Russian language, or literature.


   Mandelstam once read an unflattering poem about Joseph Stalin to a small gathering, and soon he got arrested, convicted, and sent off to the Gulags in Siberia, and eventually died over there, with no one ever knowing exactly how, except that at one time he tried to send a note to his wife that he was cold and asked for warm clothing.  Poets being arrested and put away sounds familiar, does it not?  I can think of at least a couple of Iranian poets right now who are in prison in Iran because… whatever.

   Anyhow, my search for the poem that I did not quite get led me to another poem that I liked, and the following is not exactly a translation of it, I can’t even say that it inspired me to write this poem; it’s more like a mimic of the other poem.  Mandelstam‘s poem, “Verses to N. Shtempel”, is written towards the end of his life, and it’s slightly about a different situation, although basically about the subject of life, death, and what is the meaning of being.

   The original poem can be found in “A Selection of Poems by Osip Mandel’shtam, Translated by Don Mager”, Page 258.



Graveyard Worm

1

Towards the empty land
Sweet uneven gait
She goes - a little ahead
Her mate - fast and young

Weather today,
restriction of freedom it entails,
animates disadvantage,
and, perhaps, a clear hunch
Her gait wants to stay

The fact, vernal weather,
for us - mother of the grave
And, will always be this way

2

There are women in this crude native land,
every step they take - echoing sobs,
accompanying the dead
Welcoming resurrection - their calling
To ask for their affection - criminal,
and to let them be - unaffordable
      
Today - angel,
Tomorrow - worm of the grave,
and the next day - only an outline
What was once a gait - no longer there
Immortal flowers, immense sky,
and all that ever be - just a promise

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