Osip Emilevic Mandelstam

1891 - 1938 / Warsaw

I Often Shiver With Cold

I often shiver with cold --
I want to be mute as a thing!
There is, in the skies, dancing gold
Sending me commands to sing!

Singer, be sad and upset,
Love, and remember, and call,
Catch, from a dark planet sent,
Light and magnificent ball.

That’s a true link, I believe,
With the mysterious worlds!
What an oppressive grief,
What a misfortune holds!

What if that star, as a pin,
Suddenly I’ll pierce my heart?
That one, which shimmering spins
Over the shop apart?
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