| Deutsch and Yarmolinsky, comps. Modern Russian Poetry. 1921. | | | | The Cosmic Fabric | By Yakov Polonsky (1819–1898)
(Trans. Avrahm Yarmolinsky and Cecil Cowdrey) |
| | | THIS vast web, of Nature’s weaving, | |
| Is God’s garment, so ’tis said. | |
| In that fabric I—a living, | |
| I—a still unbroken thread. | |
| And the threads run swiftly, never | 5 |
| Halting, yet if once they sever, | |
| Seer or sage shall not suffice | |
| Then the parted strands to splice. | |
| For the Weaver so will veil them | |
| That (let him who may bewail them) | 10 |
| None the ends shall ever find, | |
| Nor one broken thread rebind. | |
| Ceaselessly the threads are breaking,— | |
| Short, ah short will be my span! | |
| Meanwhile, at His fabric’s making | 15 |
| Toils the cosmic Artisan,— | |
| Curious patterns still designing, | |
| Wave and crested hill defining, | |
| Steppe and pasture, cloud and sky, | |
| Wood and field of golden rye. | 20 |
| Though with care the wise may scan it, | |
| Flawless since that Hand began it, | |
| Smooth and fine with fair accord— | |
| Shines the garment of the Lord! | | | | |
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