Innokenty Annensky
A Minute

When a patterned stuff will so flutter.
And a burning flame is so white,
No need now to smile or to utter:
Just remain as you were, in my sight.

Just remain in your darkness and drooping,
More pale than an autumn at dawn.
Out there where the willow is stooping
To shivering shadows of lawn.

A minute — the wind will come shaking
The leaves into patterns around.
A minute — the heart then awaking
Will know ’tis not you that it found.

Just stay then, and smile not nor utter;
Just stay as a vision so long
As a patterned stuff will so flutter
And a white burning flame is so strong.

Translated by Cecil Maurice Bowra