Osip Mandelshtam
Return into the lap of incest...

Return into the lap of incest
From where you have descended, Leah,
That yellow twilight you preferred
To golden sun of Ilion.

Go forward, not a hand will touch you,
To father's chest, when night is dead,
And let the night the incest-maker
Let drop your head.

But fateful change that lasts forever
Will take place in you all the same.
You will be Leah and not Helen —
Not, not because this is your name —

And not because it is much harder
Within the veins to pour king's blood —
No, you will love a Judean
Vanish in him — and help you God.

Translated by Ilya Shambat