Andrey Bely (Pseudonym of Boris Bugayev) (b. 1880)

THE SHINING and ponderous goblet

I empty: the earth drops below me,

All things sink away,—I am treading

Cold space—the vast void—the dim ether.

But distant, in ancient space looming,

My glimmering goblet: the Sun.

I look—far below me are lying

The rivers, the forests, the valleys,

Estranged in the vanishing distance.

A cloud, blowing fog on my eyelids,

Trails gossamer gold in its going.

The flickering landscape is burning

Its last: mid-day stars newly-kindled

Look into my soul, sparkling: “Welcome,”

With radiance silently streaming:

“The end of long wanderings, brother,

Lies here, in your motherland, welcome!”

Slow hour upon hour in procession,

Slow centuries, smiling, pass onward.

In ancient space proudly I lift it,

My glimmering goblet: the Sun.