Александр Блок (Aleksander Blok) November 28, 1880-August 7, 1921 was one of the most gifted lyrical poets produced by Russia after Alexander Pushkin.
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Ilya Kaminsky
is the author of
Dancing In Odessa, which was published by Tupelo Press in 2004 and editor of
Ecco Anthology of International Poetry forthcoming from Harper Collins in 2010. His translation of Polina Barskova's
This Lamentable City will also be forthcoming in 2010. He lives and teaches in San Diego.
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***
Ночь, улица, фонарь, аптека,
Бессмысленный и тусклый свет.
Живи еще хоть четверть века -
Все будет так. Исхода нет.
Умрешь - начнешь опять сначала
И повторится все, как встарь:
Ночь, ледяная рябь канала,
Аптека, улица, фонарь.
10 октября 1912
***
Night. Street. Lamp. Drugstore.
Dull and sleazy light.
Live twenty-five years more —
It will be as now. No way out.
You die — and again you begin.
All is repeated as before:
Night. The canal’s icy ripples.
Drugstore. Lamp. Street.
Translated by Ilya Kaminsky