Sophia Parnok
I anguish as the beasts must anguish...

I anguish as the beasts must anguish,
Each vertebra’s in misery,
And my heart feels like a doorbell
When someone gives the bell a squeeze.

Vibrate, empty jingle-jangler,
Sound the alarm, jingle-jang…
Time for the scrap heap! And I’m leaving
This life, alive, without a pang…

Farewell to you, my Gray-Haired Muse,
The fire of my parting days,
You were the music of all musics
For my tormented, weary soul!

I bend no longer over your pillow,
I do not hear your breathing sounds, —
And sin to say it, without either
Love or hatred do I love. 

Translated by Diana Lewis Burgin