Untitled [Whence cometh such tender rapture?]
Whence cometh such tender rapture? Those curls—they are not the first ones I’ve smoothened, and I’ve already Known lips—that were darker than yours. The stars have risen and faded, —Whence cometh such tender rapture?— And eyes have risen and faded In face of these eyes of mine I’d never yet hearkened unto Such songs in the depths of darkness, —Whence cometh such tender rapture?— My head on the bard’s own breast Whence cometh such tender rapture? And what’s to be done with it, artful Young vagabound, passing minstrel With lashes—too long to say.
18 February 1916
Credit
English translation, translator’s introduction and translator’s notes copyright © 2003 by Northwestern University Press. Reprinted by permission of Northwestern University Press. All rights reserved.
Author
Marina Tsvetaeva
Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva was born in Moscow in early October 1892, according to the New Style, or Gregorian, calendar and on September 26 according to the Julian, or Old Style, calendar, which Russia used until January 1918. Her father, Ivan Vladimirovich Tsvetaev, grew up poor and was the son of a village priest, but later became a professor of art history and classical philology at Moscow University.
Date Published
01/01/2003