Boris Slutsky
Physicists and Lyricists

Physicists are held in reverence,
Lyricists — let's be truthful —
                                          in the shade.
This is not an ordinary preference,
It's a law, and is as such obeyed.

All it means is that poetic reverie
Sidetracks us from pathways of discovery,
That our verse is so much syrup,
That our feet just miss the stirrup,
That our Pegasus, as has been found,
Merely trots but never leaves the ground.

Physicists deserve the world's esteem,
Lyricists clearly don't, so it would seem.

And it's all so evident and obvious
That to take offence is stupid really.
So, instead of being envious,
Let us watch objectively and coolly
How the foam of measures rhythmic
        Drops away in sheer dejection,
        And the mantle of distinction
        Falls to
                    spirals logarithmic.

Translated by Irina Zheleznova