Marina Tsvetaeva
Poems to Blok. 2. A knight without reproach...

2

A knight without reproach,
A ghost, a gentle one,
Who is it that called you
Into my life so young?

In fog greyish-blue
Dressed in a chausible
Of snow, stand you.

Around the city
By the wind I'm chased,
For the third evening
A foe I sensed.

The blue-eyed
Singer made of snow
Stared at me so.

The snow-white swan
Lays his down under my feet. Flow
Feathers
And slowly fall on the snow.

Thus on the feathers
I walk to the door
Behind which is death.

Beyond blue windows
He sings to me,
With far-away tambourines
He sings to me,

With far-off cry
With swan's cry —
He calls.

My dear ghost!
All's my dream, I know.
Do a good thing:
Amen, amen, scatter — go!
Amen.

Translated by Ilya Shambat