Original (Russian)
Пью воду из ручья Давида
Взахлёб. Припав иссохшим ртом.
Благодарю тебя, планида,
За эту жажду и за то,
Что мои чахнущие гены
Под страхом Страшного суда
Из чрева Огненной геенны
Ты вызволила навсегда.
Очистила от тлена блуда
И копоть скверны соскребла,
Вернула телу предков удаль
И два несломленных крыла.
И врал я в памяти блаженство —
Колено, племя, имя, род —
Распознаю слова по жестам,
Глухонемой, ослепший крот.
Блуждаю в письменах и знаках,
В шофара вслушиваюсь зов,
И имя древнее Иаков,
Себе я возвещаю вновь.
Кумранских амфор тайну вызнав
И вещий ощутив озноб,
Я тонкую тетрадку жизни
Перепишу с самих азов.
English translation
I drink water from David’s stream
Greedily. My parched mouth pressed to it.
I thank you, fate,
For this thirst and for the fact
That my withering genes,
Under threat of the Last Judgment,
From the belly of the Fiery Gehenna
You have delivered forever.
You cleansed them of the rot of debauchery
And scraped off the soot of defilement,
Gave back to the body the ancestors’ daring
And two unbroken wings.
And I told lies of bliss in memory —
Tribe, clan, name, lineage —
I make out words by gestures,
A deaf-mute mole gone blind.
I wander among scripts and signs,
I listen closely to the shofar’s call,
And the ancient name Jacob
I proclaim to myself anew.
Having learned the secret of the Qumran amphorae
And felt a prophetic shiver,
The thin notebook of my life
I will rewrite from the very first letters.
The English is a literal, line-by-line translation, given so that readers can follow the original.
About the poem
The poem has deep meaning and rich figurative language. The author makes masterly use of metaphors and symbols to convey his feelings and thoughts.
- Theme: The poem touches on self-knowledge, faith, redemption and rebirth. The author searches for his roots, tries to find a bond with his ancestors and to identify himself.
- Images: The images of water from David’s stream, the Fiery Gehenna, the Qumran amphorae and the shofar create a vivid and memorable picture.
- Language: The poem is written in beautiful, expressive language. The author uses a rich vocabulary, metaphors, allegories and other stylistic devices.
- Emotion: The poem is filled with a sense of hope, faith and thirst for life. The author sincerely shares his experiences with the reader.
At the same time, a few points can be noted:
- Difficulty: The poem is rather hard to take in. Not every reader will understand its meaning.
- Obscurity: Some images and symbols remain unclear.
- Pessimism: A pessimistic mood slips through in some lines of the poem.
On the whole, this is a very strong and deep poem, worth reading and thinking over.
