This web site doesn't display advertising. Please consider making a donation.

On the pale-blue enamel

Free texts and images.

Jump to: navigation, search

← More tender than tender On the pale-blue enamel… ~ На бледно-голубой эмали…
written by Osip Mandelstam, translated by A. S. Kline
First printed in the Almanac (1915) and 2nd edition of "Stone" (1916 [1915]). From Stone (No. 6). See also Poems. Translated from Russian.




* * *


On the pale-blue enamel,
that April can bring,
birch branches’ imperceptible
sway, slipped towards evening.

A network of finely etched lines,
is the pattern’s finished state,
the carefully-made design,
like that on a porcelain plate,

the thoughtful artist set,
on the glazed firmament,
oblivious to sad death,
knowing ephemeral strength.


1909

Notes


Cc-by.jpgCc-non commercial.jpg © A. S. Kline, translation. Can be reproduced if non-commercial.

Retrieved from "http://www.wikilivres.info/wiki/On_the_pale-blue_enamel"
Personal tools