Translation from Mandelshtam

From Mandelstam's Voronezh Notebooks.
Translation by Michael Efroimsky


For the roaring glory of ages to come,
For the sake of mankind's high tribes
I'm deprived of my place at the feast of my clan;
Of my dignity, honour and rights.

I am not of wolves' breed, but this wolfhound age
Stalked my path, and it clutched at my throat.
Let me sooner escape in Siberian steppes
Like a hat in a sleeve of a coat.

Not to stare the coward and scum in the face,
Nor the blood on the torture wheel,
Let the blue polar foxes shine bright in my ways
Through the night in the primeval chill.

Lead me into the night, to the Yenisey stream
Where pine trees reach for the sky,
For I am not a wolf by my blood or my breed,
And my tongue will be severed by lies.

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In an early version of this verse, the final line used to read as "And an equal will take my life."
Later, Mandelshtam altered it.