I love the uprise of a texture (2)

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Octets (II) ~ I love the uprise of a texture… (Variant) written by Osip Mandelstam

O butterfly, O Moslem-woman →

From Moscow Notebooks. See also Poems. Translated from Russian by Dmitri Smirnov. In Russian: Люблю появление ткани 2.

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II. [Variant] I love the uprise of a texture, To see after two, three or some Air gasps, when there will be a gesture, And deep straightening breath then will come. 5I wait with my zeal and impassion That instant beyond any bounds, And sudden the arc of expansion Among my own murmuring sounds. November 1933, Moscow (Translated 16 October 2007, St Albans)

Notes

This poem written in November 1933 in Moscow is the earlier version of the opening poem of the "Octets": the first four lines are the same in both the poems. However Mandelstam wanted to keep both versions in the cycle. The term "arc expansion" is connected with the "morphogenetic field theory" by professor Alexander Gurwitsch, as it was explained in Mandelstam's Journey to Armenia. It is used here for the "appearance of rhythm" (Nadezhda Mandelstam) Translated from Russian by Dmitri Smirnov.

Previous version of translation:

II. [Variant] I love the uprise of a texture, When after two or three Or perhaps four gasps It comes, the straight deep breath. 5It is so good and so hard When the moment approaches. And suddenly — the arc expansion Sounds in my mumblings. November 1933, Moscow (Translated October 2006, St Albans)

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© Dmitri Smirnov, translation. Can be reproduced if non-commercial.

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