I learned the grass as I began to write . . .

I learned the grass as I began to write . . . — Web Exclusive

By Arseny Tarkovsky
Translated by Philip Metres; Dimitri Psurtsev

I learned the grass as I began to write,
And the grass started whistling like a flute.
I gathered how color and sound could join
And when the dragonfly whirred up his hymn,
Passing through green frets like a comet, I knew
A tear was waiting in each drop of dew.
Knew that in each facet of the huge eye,
In each rainbow of brightly churring wings,
Dwells the burning word of the prophet—
By some miracle I found Adam’s secret.

I loved my tormenting task, this intricate
Placing of words, fastened by their light,
Riddle of vague feeling and a simple answer
To the mind. In “truth” I thought truth appeared.
My tongue was true, like a spectral analysis,
And words gathered around my feet to listen.

What’s more, my friend, you’re right to say
I heard one-quarter the noise, saw half the light,
But I did not debase the grasses, or family,
Or insult the ancestral earth by being blithe,
And as long as I worked on earth, accepted
A gift of coldest spring water and fragrant bread,
Above me unfathomable sky still stood,
And stars tumbled around my head.

Considered one of the great Russian poets of the 20th century, Arseny Tarkovsky authored numerous collections of poetry. He was deeply influenced by the writing of Anna Akhmatova and Marina Tsvetayeva, with whom he was close friends. He died in 1989 and was posthumously awarded the USSR State Prize that year.

Philip Metres is the author of numerous books, including To See the Earth (poetry, 2008), Come Together: Imagine Peace (anthology, 2008), and Behind the Lines: War Resistance Poetry on the American Homefront since 1941 (criticism, 2007). His work has appeared in Best American Poetry and has garnered an NEA Fellowship, a Watson Fellowship, two Ohio Arts Council Grants, and the Cleveland Arts Prize in 2010. He teaches literature and creative writing at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Dimitri Psurtsev (b. 1960) is a Russian poet and translator of British and American prose-writers and poets, including A.S. Byatt. His two books of poetry, Ex Roma Tertia and Tengiz Notepad were published in 2001; these and later poems can be found at this website. He teaches translation at Moscow State Linguistic University and lives with his wife Natalia and daughter Anna outside Moscow.

Original text: Arseny Tarkovsky, My Fate Was Burned Between the Lines. Moscow: Eksmo Press, 2009.