POEM
"Our sweet companions-sharing your bunk and your bed"
Our sweet companions—sharing your bunk and your bed
The versts and the versts and the versts and a hunk of your bread
The wheels' endless round
The rivers, streaming to ground
The road. . .
Oh the heavenly the Gypsy the early dawn light
Remember the breeze in the morning, the steppe silver-bright
Wisps of blue smoke from the rise
And the song of the wise
Gypsy czar. . .
In the dark midnight, under the ancient trees' shroud
We gave you sons as perfect as night, sons
As poor as the night
And the nightingale chirred
Your might. . .
We never stopped you, companions for marvelous hours
Poverty's passions, the impoverished meals we shared
The fierce bonfire's glow
And there, on the carpet below,
Fell stars. . .
Translated by Sasha Dugdale
Source: Poetry (April 2008).
This poem originally appeared in the April 2008 issue of Poetry.
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Marina Tsvetaeva (1892–1941) is considered one of Russia’s most important poets. MORE »
