What is the name of this street?
Mandelstam Street.
What the hell kind of name is that?
No matter how you turn it round,
It has a crooked sound, it isn’t straight.
There wasn’t much about him straight,
His attitudes weren’t lily-white.
And that is why this street
Or, better still, this hole
Was given its name after him:
This Mandelstam.
Это какая улица?
Улица Мандельштама.
Что за фамилия чортова —
Как ее ни вывертывай,
Криво звучит, а не прямо.
Мало в нем было линейного,
Нрава он не был лилейного,
И потому эта улица
Или, верней, эта яма
Так и зовется по имени
Этого Мандельштама...
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