Marina Tsvetaeva
Girlfriend. 14. There are names whose sound breathes glamour...

There are names whose sound breathes glamour,
names like the too-heavy too-sweet scent
of a flower—there are looks that fascinate like flames…
There are lips that darken and swell at one’s kiss,
lips with wondrous warm wet depths.

There are women who are fierce,
with hair like a helmet, heavy and splendid,
women whose fan wafts towards you
their fatal and delicate scent,
women nearing thirty—why, oh why,
do you crave such a woman, my spartan soul,
my soul of a warrior child?

Translated by Seraphina Powell