Sergey Gorodetsky
Instruction

Let your Mind’s fire break through the roaring,
Just concentrate, forget the past
And try to grasp that a new era
Has come; you’re now the least, the last.

And all you knew, all you discovered
In your books’ jungles, your dream’s shout
Lies as a trace that’s hardly noticed
And asks sadly to be crossed out!

So few things will be thought worth using
And many, many will sleep deep!
You’ll have to split yourself in two parts,
And kill the self you cannot keep.

And you will tell the half remaining:
Enter your new world, child; it’s yours!
But this sun’s brilliance is so painful
For eyes which have gone blind indoors.

Translated by Vladimir Markov and Merrill Sparks