"Black roses twine with crimson In the flowers by my plate."


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Issue 12: The Necessary Ear

Issue 11: The Necessary Eye

Issue 10: Out on a Limb

Issue 9: The Missing Body

Issue 8: The Lily

Issue 7: Passages

Issue 6: No More Tears


Viazemsky
translated from the Russian by J. Kates



To Friends

I drink to the health of friends,
Constant, however few,
In treacherous, lying days
Friends unwavering, true.

I drink to the health of friends,
Distant, alone, but dear,
Friends alone as I am,
Breathing an alien air.

Tears water the wine in my cup,
But the stream is pure and sweet;
Black roses twine with crimson
In the flowers by my plate.

My cup, to the health of friends,
Constant, however few,
In treacherous, lying days
Friends unwavering, true.

To the health of those near but far,
Those whom my heart still loves,
And remembering those who are
Buried in lonely graves.

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J. Kates is a poet and literary translator who lives in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire. His translations of the Romantic Russian poets will be forthcoming in an anthology of international Romantic poetry edited by Michael Ferber. An Anthology of European Romantic Poetry in Translation, Longman (US) 2004.

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