1 Equally with all others I want to serve you, Drying from jealousy My lips turned blue. Word does not slake A mouth dry from despair Without you I am breathless In empty air. 2. I am no longer jealous But yet I want you, dear, I carry me like sacrifice To executioner, And no I will not call you Not love not glee; The wild and foreign blood Runs now through me. 3 Wait for one moment And this I will tell you: Not joy, but torment I find in you. And, like a sacrilege, Bitten in frenzy Your tender cherry mouth Still calls to me. 4 Return to me at last, love, It's awful without you Never more strongly Have I felt you. And in the midnight drama, Asleep, awake, I call your name out loud Even as I shake. By Osip Mandelshtam Translated from Russian by Ilya Shambat https://sites.google.com/site/ibshambat
