Marina Tsvetaeva
Poems to Blok. 3. You walk out to the Falling Sun...

3

You walk out to the Falling Sun,
Evening light in your face,
You walk out to the Falling Sun,
And the snowstorm blots out the trace.

Past the windows — passionless —
You will go in the quiet snow,
My beautiful believer in God,
Quiet to the light of my soul.

I do not lust after your soul!
Your footpath is inviolable.
Into the arm, white from the kisses,
I will not hammer my nail.

And I will not respond to the name,
And I will not pull with my arm,
To the sacred image of wax
I will only bow from afar.

And, standing under the slow snow,
I will fall on my knees in the snow,
And in your holy name
I will kiss the evening snow —

There, where with a majestic foot
In the coffin silence you did go,
Quiet to light — holy glories —
You the all-keeper of my soul.

Translated by Ilya Shambat