Maximilian Voloshin
Cimmerian Twilight III

Above dark, rippled waters rises in retreat
Earth's heavy mass: the spines and rocky crests defying
The tortured steep in torrents of red rubble lying —
A lifeless land, its mourning reaches at my feet.

Sad dreams and solemn dreams flow by me, bitter-sweet:
Earth ancient and obscure, whose echoing bays are sighing,
Where in late twilight with a sadder beauty dying
The waves in waste hexameters billow and beat.

And where no roadways run upon the dark's still rivers,
Breathing an ancient mystery, the dim sail swells and ⁠quivers
With winds of tossed desire and seas that lift and fall.

An alien tremor takes my ship upon its going
Where destined roads of daring and retribution call.
And lamp-like in the sky the Seven Stars are glowing.

Translated by Babette Deutsch and Avrahm Yarmolinsky