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I'm given a body — what to do with it?

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I'm given a body — what to do with it?
written by Osip Mandelstam, translated by Dmitri Smirnov
From Stone. See also Poems. Translated from Russian by Dmitri Smirnov. In Russian: Дано мне тело….




* * *


I'm given a body — what to do with it?
It is so united and so much my own.

For the quiet happiness to breathe and live,
Tell me, to whom shall I give my thanks?

I am the gardener and the flower too,
In the world's dungeon I am not alone.

My breath, my warmth lay already down
On the window glass of eternity.

The pattern will be imprinted there
Unrecognizable from recent times.

Let the instant mud to be flown away —
The cherished pattern will be not erased.


1909

Notes



Cc-by.jpgCc-non commercial.jpg © Dmitri Smirnov, translation. Can be reproduced if non-commercial.


Original:

SemiPD-icon.svg This work is in the public domain in countries where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less.
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