"To read only children's books"

by Osip Mandelstam

Osip Mandelstam

To read only children's books,
To have only childish thoughts,
To throw everything grown-up away,
To rise from deep sadness.
I am deathly tired of life,
I will accept nothing from it.
But I love my poor land,
For I have seen no other.
I rocked in a distant garden
On a plain wooden swing,
Tall dark fir trees
I recall in a hazy fever.





Last updated January 14, 2019