Tell me, Desert Draftsman

← And the toothed paw of the maple

Octets (IX) ~ Tell me, Desert Draftsman… written by Osip Mandelstam

From needle-shaped pestilential glasses →

From Moscow Notebooks. See also Poems. Translated from Russian by Dmitri Smirnov. In Russian: Скажи мне, чертежник пустыни.

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IX. Tell me, Desert Draftsman, Geometer of the quicksands, Is it true, that unrestrained lines Are more powerful than the blowing wind? 5 — I don't care about the trembling Of his Judaic troubles. — He shapes experience from babble, And drinks babble from the experience. November 1933, Moscow

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

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