Marina Tsvetaeva
To honor time

for Vera Arenskaya

On the refugee-road!
It whooped — and bolted
Headlong on its wheels.
Time! I don’t have time.

Caught up in chronicles
And kisses... like sands
In rustling streams...
Time, you let me down!

Of clock-hands and wrinkles’
Furrows — of American
Innovations... — Empty jar! —
Time, you give me short measure!

Time, you hand me over!
Like a debauched wife — a “new toy”
You drop... — “One hour, but it’s ours!”

— Your train leaves on a different
Track!.. —

Since I was born past
Time! To no purpose and in vain
You resist! Caliph of an hour:
Time! I will pass you by!

Translated by Mary Jane White