Marina Tsvetaeva
To Moscow. 1. You did not bend the shoulders, when the red-haired...

1

You did not bend the shoulders, when the red-haired
Impostor seized you and for you did reach.
Where is your pride, you baroness? Your blush,
You beauty? Brilliant girl, your speech?

Like Tsar Peter, the law of sons despising,
Did lust with avarice after your head —
You answered to the Tsar of Russia truly
As baroness Morozova on the sled.

The fiery drink was not at all forgotten
By lips of Bonapart that were so cold.
The sides of Kremlin all things will endure.
In your cathedral not the first time stands a stall.

Translated by Ilya Shambat