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Stone/A meagre beam in a cold measure

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A meagre beam in a cold measure… (1911)
by Osip Mandelstam, translated by Dmitri Smirnov

From Stone.

Osip Mandelstam242038A meagre beam in a cold measure…1911Dmitri Smirnov

 * * *

A meagre beam in a cold measure
Scatters light in the damp forest.
The sorrow is like a grey bird
That I carry slowly in my heart.

What shall I do with this wounded bird?
The firmament has fallen silent, died;
From the misty steeple
Someone has taken down the bells.

And this height stands here
Orphaned and soundless,
Like an empty white tower,
Where there is mist and quietness.

The morning with fathomless tenderness,
Half real and half a dream –
Unsatisfied oblivion,
The misty chime of thoughts…

1911

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Original:

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1938, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 85 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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Translation:

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