“Sorrowdrawl” (1937)

Shut up: to be alone is to be alive,
To be alive to be a man –
Even hazied, even queasied by this madsmash hinterland,
Lost and locked in the sky’s asylum eye.

This is my prayer to the air
To which I turn and turn expecting news or ease,
Nerves minnowing from shadowhands
Toward shadowlands inside of me. This is my prayer

To be of an under a human-scale sky,
To suffer a human-scale why, to leave
This blunt sun, these eternal furrows,
For the one country that comes when I close my eyes.

COMMENTS

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3 responses to “Mondays with Mandelstam: “Sorrowdrawl” (1937)”

1. Lacy says:

   10/01/2013 at 5:18 pm

   Whose translation?

   Reply
   • Todd Brewer says:

     10/02/2013 at 7:36 am

     The translation comes from Christian Wiman’s book, “Stolen Air” (http://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Air-Selected-Poems-Mandelstam/dp/0062099426)

     Reply
     • Lacy says:

       10/08/2013 at 2:09 am

       Just ordered! Thanks for this!

       Reply