Marina Tsvetaeva
And the next time, a deaf-mute...

And the next time, a deaf-mute —
I will come to a world where I give a poem to everyone, give everyone my hearing.

Indeed it’s all the same — what they say — I don’t understand.
Indeed it’s all the same — who can make it out? — what I say.

Forbid me God — again Corinna
arrives in this region, where people are harder than ice, ice floes harder than cliffs.

Like a deaf-mute — with such a long
braid—down to the floor! — so long
you wouldn’t recognize her.

Translated by Karina McCorkle