Marina Tsvetaeva
Just yesterday, you met my gaze...

Just yesterday, you met my gaze,
Now you avoid it, grim and dark!
You used to stay till morning rays, —
Now, ravens have replaced the larks!

I’m just a fool, and you’re so wise,
You’re living and I’ve long turned numb.
O women’s ageless, timeless cries:
“My dear one, what is it I’ve done?!”

All blood and tears are merely water,
She bathes in them, becoming pretty.
Love is a step-mom — not a mother:
She’s cruel, unjust and feels no pity

Ships take our loved ones and set sail.
A white road takes them and they’re gone.
Across the earth, the women wail:
“My dear one, what is it I’ve done?!”

Last night, beside me, you lay low,
Comparing me to China’s power!
Then suddenly you let me go, —
And life, — a kopek — hit the ground!

As if in court for an infant’s murder,
I stood there, feeling rather stunned.
Even from hell, to you I’ll murmur:
“My dear one, what is it I’ve done?!”

I asked the chair, I asked the bed:
“Why all this pain? Why do I bother?”
“He got his kiss — you’re doomed to death:
And now, he’s off to kiss another.”

You’ve taught to live in the fire’s heat,
Now, in the icy steppe — I’m shunned!
That’s what, my dear, you’ve done to me!
My dear one, what is it I’ve done?

I know it all — don’t contradict me!
I see again — no more your lover!
Where Love departs, there, rather quickly,
Old Death-the-Gardener takes over.

Why shake the tree? The apples fall
Once they have ripened in the sun.
— Forgive me all, forgive me all,
My dear one, — that I’ve ever done!

Translated by Andrey Kneller