Osip Mandelshtam
Village of the Tsar

Let's head to village of the Tsar
Where drunken, swept by wind and free
Young men are smiling right at me
Riding on horseback high and far.
Let's head to village of the Tsar!

Parks, castles, stables in a row
And on the trees are lumps of snow
And to the shouts — «be well, hotshots»
The words "be well" ring back like shots —
Parks, castles, stables in a row.

One-story houses wide and far
Where generals of single mind
Shorten their lifetimes going blind
Reading Dumas and «Nieva»:
Mansions — not houses — wide and far.

Train whistles. Riding in, a knight,
With retinue in pavilions full of light
A sword behind him sternly dragging
Officer leaves the cabin, ragging:
I do not doubt this is a knight!

And man is coming home again —
Where etiquette and decor reign
A fear-instilling chariot
A grey-haired fraulein on the spot
Knows, man is coming home again...

Translated by Ilya Shambat