Do you remember runners in

Do you remember runners in… ~ Вы помните, как бегуны…
written by Osip Mandelstam
translated by Dmitri Smirnov

From Moscow Notebooks. See also Poems. Translated from Russian by Dmitri Smirnov. See Poezia.ru.

Link to further information

* * *

Do you remember runners in
The outskirts of Verona
Who must unfold the rolls of green
Broadcloth in their own honour?
But only he will leave behind
All others drawn by Dante,
Who — to the disputes so inclined —
Will run away from Canto.^[1]

May 1932, Moscow — September 1935, Voronezh^[2]

Notes

↑ To be implied to Brunetto Latino, ca 1220–1294 Dante's teacher who was depicted in the Divine Comedy "running away" from XV Canto of Inferno:

[121] Poi si rivolse, e parve di coloro
che corrono a Verona il drappo verde
per la campagna; e parve di costoro
quelli che vince, non colui che perde. (Dante Alighieri)

[121] Then he turned round, and seemed to be of those
Who at Verona run for the Green Mantle
Across the plain; and seemed to be among them
The one who wins, and not the one who loses. (Transl. H. W. Longfellow)

[121] Он обернулся и бегом помчался,
Как те, кто под Вероною бежит
К зеленому сукну, причем казался
Тем, чья победа, а не тем, чей стыд. (Пер. М. Л. Лозинского)

[121] Он повернулся и помчался скоро,
Словно веронец за шёлком зелёным,
И он, казалось, далёк от позора
Был победившим, а не побеждённым. (Пер. А. А. Илюшина)

(DS)
↑ Translated 4 May 2007, St Albans.