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  • Where does such tenderness...
  • Marina Tsvetaeva (bio)
    —translated from the Russian by Joan Aleshire

to Osip Mandelstam

Where does such tenderness come from?These are not the first—these curlsI smooth, and the lips I used to know are darker than yours.

The stars rose and dimmed(where does such tenderness come from?);eyes like mine grow bright and dim.

I’ve never heardsongs like these on dark nights(where does such tenderness come from?)from a whole band of singers.Where does such tenderness come from?And what do you have to do with it,sly boy, traveling singer,with eyelashes so long?

1916 [End Page 144]

Marina Tsvetaeva

Marina Tsvetaeva (1892–1941) was born in Moscow, although her family’s years abroad allowed her to learn Italian, French, and German. Among her translations are Russian versions of Goethe and Rilke, and French versions of Pushkin. Her affairs with the poet Sofia Parnok and with Konstantin Rodzevich inspired her two great cycles of love poems, “Poem of the Mountain” and “Poem of the End.” In addition to poetry, she wrote diaries, literary criticism, and verse dramas. Judged to be one of the most important writers of the era, she produced several celebrated collections, including Craft (1923) and After Russia (1928), as well as “The Ratcatcher” (1925), a satirical version of the Pied Piper legend in which Bolshevik rats gradually take on features of the German burghers they have ousted. After being evacuated from wartime Moscow, Tsvetaeva hanged herself. No one attended her funeral.

Joan Aleshire

Joan Aleshire has been studying and translating Russian poetry for many years. She has published five books of her own poetry, the latest being Happily (Four Way Books, 2012). She has taught in the M.F.A. Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College since 1983.

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