Deutsch and Yarmolinsky, comps. Modern Russian Poetry. 1921.
Nomads of BeautyVyacheslav Ivanov (b. 1866)
—“Flamings.”
F
And, choked, the graveyard waits.
For us, the free forsakers,—
The camp that Beauty fates.
The tents we daily flee,
Mocked by each dawning season
Of our captivity.
All curtains: magic veils,
All Springtides’ green persistence,
Whole heaven’s vasty gales!
Your droves of dreams unbound;
And sow, although you jeopard
The soon-abandoned ground.
Rush down, a whirling horde,
Where slaves tamed to the traces
Adore their overlord.
Oh, Attila, with scars.
And grow—to Beauty vow them—
Your steppe flowers like stars.