back to Marina Tsvetaeva

“Garden” by Marina Tsvetaeva 🇷🇺 (8 Oct 1892 – 31 Aug 1941)
Translated from the Russian by Paul Magee
To cope with this underworld
you’ve sent me, and madness,
make it a garden
for the years that age.
​
For the years that age,
for the griefs I’ve to live through,
the years of work coming
and the groanings in my back.
​
For the years that age.
Bone for that dog.
For the hell-burnt years.
A garden in the breeze
​
for their refugee.
Bless me with a garden
and nobody there,
a soulless place.
​
Garden no one steps in.
Garden no one looks in.
A laughterless garden,
a no whistling there
garden
​
Earless,
bless me with a garden.
Nothing has a scent there,
not a soul.
​
Speak: you’ve tortured enough.
A garden on its own.
But don’t come near me here or there.
Yes, he says, it’s as alone as me.
​
That’s your garden for me and the years
I age. That. Or your paradise?
Bless me in the years that age.
Deliver me from here.