Zenkevich, “You’ve long been dead for me …” (1917)
 

You’ve long been dead for me, decaying
into a ghost of paradise,
so why must you insist on claiming
the right to haunt me and chastise?
When I feel others’ dull caresses
and hide my gritted teeth in shame
and, in the midst of my transgressions,
forget and whisper your dear name,
my languor leaves me of a sudden,
and all enchantments lose their force,
and intimacy makes me shudder
as if I lay beside a corpse.
And I imagine how you shatter
the night, amid a blaze of gold,
and slash my soul with talons after
your wings have turned it icy cold.


Crib

You have long been dead for me
and have decayed into a ghost of heaven/paradise,
so why then do you assert
your rights, castigating?
When, amid unliked caresses,
I, in forgetfulness/oblivion, sinning with others,
having concealed the clack of clenched teeth,
whisper your kindred/dear name,
the languor of sleep suddenly disappears—
and charm has flown away/vanished,
and passionate closeness is frightening,
as if beside me was the body of a dead [woman].
And it appears to me that, in nocturnal
stillness, a flame like gold will surge,
and you will claw my soul,
having frozen it with [your] wings.


Original

Ты для меня давно мертва
И перетлела в призрак рая,
Так почему ж свои права,
Отстаиваешь ты, карая?
Когда среди немилых ласк
Я в забытьи, греша с другими,
Зубов зажатых скрывши лязг,
Шепну твое родное имя,
Исчезнет вдруг истома сна —
И обаянье отлетело,
И близость страстная страшна,
Как будто рядом мертвой тело.
И мне мерещится, что в тишь
Ночную хлынет златом пламя
И ты мне душу искогтишь,
Оледенив ее крылами.


This poem resonates with one of Pushkin’s early “imitations of the ancients.” Here it is, rendered in English by James Falen, one of Pushkin’s best translators:

Dorida

Dorída cheers my heart … I love her golden hair,
the light-blue eyes she has, her pale and languid air …
Abandoning my friends, I left the feast last night
and tasted in her arms the fullness of delight;
fresh ecstasies replaced each ecstasy that dwindled,
and passions quickly slaked were once again rekindled;
I swooned, but in the dim uncertainty of night
another’s lovely form intruded on my sight,
and, stricken with a sad and secret sense of shame,
I heard my lips call out an unexpected name.

It’s a beautiful translation, but on first reading, I took exception to the last two lines, which literally read: “and I was full of mysterious sorrow, / and my lips were whispering another name.” No “shame” and no “calling out.” Ironically, I ended up adding “shame” to my translation of Zenkevich for the same irresistible rhyme.

Hi, Carl—

I’m surprised to see such a Gothic poem coming from the pen of an Acmeist. I guess I don’t understand Acmeist aesthetics very well. I thought they took a dim view of Romantic, richly allusive poems. I suppose, though, that as Russians, there is no getting around Pushkin.

This poem reminded me of Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” and his short story, “Ligeia.” It also made me think of the story of Lilith from Hebrew Midrash. In order to account for the seeming contradiction in Genesis between 1:27 where God creates male and female humans at the same time (“male and female, He created them”) and 2:22 where he creates Eve from Adam’s rib, the rabbis came up with the story of Lilith, Adam’s first wife, who, because she, like Adam, was created from dirt and the breath of God, claimed equality with him. To punish her uppityness, Lilith was transformed, in one version, into a screech owl who attacks pregnant women and in another version into a demon succubus who seduces (and sometimes kills) men at night. Her removal created an opening for Adam’s second wife, Eve.

I like the slant rhymes, which I see are also in the Russian original. I also commend your control and compression of the bizarre, disturbing images which could, in the hands of a less deft translator, descend into melodrama. Great work!

Glenn

Thanks, Glenn.

I don’t have a good understanding of Acmeist aesthetics either, and the group, though small, was loose and disparate.

There are two slant rhymes in the poem, другими/имя and пламя/крылами, which is interesting, since Russian poetry has always been formally conservative, no matter how weird the content.

The Poe associations are interesting. I thought of the woman addressed by Zenkevich as alive, though, just gone from his life, but I have no evidence other than that she’s dead “for me.”

At least one element of your pattern persists here: the unobtainable woman.