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The dull air is moist and resounding
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| ← | The dull air is moist and resounding written by Osip Mandelstam | → |
| From Stone. See also Poems. Translated from Russian by Dmitri Smirnov with Gerard McBurney. In Russian: Воздух пасмурный влажен и гулок… |
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The dull air is moist and resounding;
In the forest it is good and no danger.
Once again I will bear obediently
My light cross of solitary walks.
And once again a reproach to my heartless fatherland
Will fly up like a wild duck,
It is a gloomy life I take part in
Where every single one is alone!
A shot has rung out. Now over the drowsy lake
The ducks' wings are heavy.
And the pine trunks are stupefied
By their double, reflected existence.
The sky, dull with a strange shine…
A worldwide, misty pain…
Oh, let me also be misty in this way,
And let me not to love you.
1911
© Dmitri Smirnov & Gerard McBurney, translation. Can be reproduced if non-commercial.
