The tiny appendage of the sixth sense

← O butterfly, O Moslem-woman

Octets (IV) ~ The tiny appendage of the sixth sense… written by Osip Mandelstam

Overcoming the firmness of nature →

From Moscow Notebooks. Translated from Russian by Dmitri Smirnov. In Russian: Шестого чувства крошечный придаток.

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IV

The tiny appendage of the sixth sense,
The pineal eye of the lizard,
The monasteries of snails and shells,
Or the gabble of the gleaming eyelids, —
The unreachable — it is so close!
You can’t unfasten or observe it,
Like the message put in your hand
That you have to answer right away.

May 1932, Moscow

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© Dmitri Smirnov, Translation. Can be reproduced if non commercial.

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