| Deutsch and Yarmolinsky, comps. Modern Russian Poetry. 1921. | | | | Saint Sebastian | By Valery Brusov (b. 1873)
(Trans. Avrahm Yarmolinsky) |
| | | ON slow and smoky fire thou burn’st and art consuméd, | |
| Oh, thou, my soul. | |
| On slow and smoky fire thou burn’st and art consuméd, | |
| With hidden dole. | |
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| Thou droopest like Sebastian, pierced with pointed arrows, | 5 |
| Harassed and spent, | |
| Thou droopest like Sebastian, pierced with pointed arrows, | |
| Thy flesh all rent. | |
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| Thy foes encircle thee and watch with gleeful laughter | |
| And bended bow, | 10 |
| Thy foes encircle thee and watch with gleeful laughter | |
| Thy torments slow. | |
| |
| The embers burn, and gentle is the arrow’s stinging, | |
| ’Neath the evening sky, | |
| The embers burn, and gentle is the arrow’s stinging, | 15 |
| When the end draws nigh. | |
| |
| Why hastens not thy dream unto thy lips, now pallid | |
| With deadly drouth? | |
| Why hastens not thy dream unto thy lips, now pallid | |
| To kiss thy mouth? | 20 | | | |
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