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
**
MPD © 2013
Great poem! It gave me a chill and somehow (for obvious reasons) it reminded me of Herta Muller's The Hunger Angel (The story is about a 17-year-old deported to a camp in Russia (Soviet Union)...This is my favorite quote from it:
"I have packed myself into silence so deeply and for so long that I can never unpack myself using words."
Great work, MPD dear! Please think (seriously) of publishing your collection of poems!
Beautiful. Well done. It reminded of me the movie "grave of the fireflies".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095327/
Hi MPD,
I found part of Mandelstam‘s poem, “Verses to N. Shtempel" from this website:
http://kirjasto.sci.fi/mandelst.htm
During this period Mandelstam wrote for Natasha Shtempel, his brave friend in the hard conditions, a poem in which he again gave women the role of mourning and preserving: "To accompany the resurrected and to be the first / To welcome the dead is their vocation. / And to demand caresses from them is criminal."
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I checked the poet on wikipedia, he seemed to have an amorous disposition with a lot of affairs, not sure if it is true!
Dear Yolanda: Thank you for that link. It was excellent.
Hi! MPD,
My favorite lines are:
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
It is so true!
Hi Fired-up,
The poet died at age of 47 and it took the government 20 years to exonerate him! Very sad!
I was wondering how long it will take IRI to exonerate Nasrin and Panahi?
Hi, yolanda:
Osip Mandelstam was rehabilitated and declared exonerated from the charges brought against him in 1938. On October 28, 1987, during the administration of Mikhail Gorbachev, Mandelstam was exonerated from the 1934 charges as well and thus fully rehabilitated.[13] In 1977, a minor planet 3461 Mandelshtam, discovered by Soviet astronomerNikolai Stepanovich Chernykh, was named after him.[14]
Hi! Fired-up,
According to Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osip_Mandelstam
The Poet died in 1938.......In 1956, during the Khrushchev thaw, Osip Mandelstam was rehabilitated and declared exonerated from the charges brought against him in 1938. On October 28, 1987, during the administration of Mikhail Gorbachev, Mandelstam was exonerated from the 1934 charges as well and thus fully rehabilitated.
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It took the government 18 years to exonerate him.
Thank you for your post!
Thank you all for all of your interesting comments.
“A Selection of Poems by Osip Mandel’shtam" in pdf format can be found here (the related poem is on page 258):
http://www.donmager.org/MandelstamSelections.pdf
Thank you MPD. Great blog.