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To read only children's books

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From the semi-dark hall, suddenly To read only children's books… ~ Только детские книги читать…
written by Osip Mandelstam
More tender than tender
[1]. From Stone (No. 4). See also Poems. Translated from Russian by Dmitri Smirnov.



* * *


To read only children's books,
To cherish only children's thoughts.
All grown-up things to disperse far away,
And to rise from a deep sorrow.

I am mortally tired of life,
I accept nothing of it,
But I love my poor earth,
Because I’ve seen no other.

I swung myself in a far-off garden
On the simple wooden swing,
Remembering tall dark fir trees
In an obscure delirium.


1908

Notes


Other translations


© Dmitri Smirnov, translation. Can be reproduced if non-commercial.



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