| Deutsch and Yarmolinsky, comps. Modern Russian Poetry. 1921. | | | | Messengers | | By Andrey Bely (Pseudonym of Boris Bugayev) (b. 1880) |
| | | IN fields hopeless and dumb | |
| Droops the pale-bladed grain; | |
| It is dozing and numb | |
| Amid dreams that are vain…. | |
| With a high sudden hum | 5 |
| The field tosses its mane: | |
| “Unto us Christ is come!” | |
| The wild news shakes the plain. | |
| Like a wind-beaten drum | |
| Shouts the quivering grain. | 10 |
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| The bells ring soft and slow, | |
| There is clamor and pain | |
| In the church, and a low | |
| Voice is lifted again | |
| That reiterates: “Woe!” | 15 |
| To the poor folk and plain | |
| Are brought candles aglow: | |
| “Christ is coming again!” | |
| But with voices of woe | |
| They file doorward, in pain. | 20 | | | |
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