Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Deutsch and Yarmolinsky, comps. Modern Russian Poetry. 1921.

Flax

Ivan Bunin (b. 1870)

SHE sits on tumulus Savoor, and stares,

Old woman Death, upon the crowded road.

Like a blue flame the small flax-flower flares

Thick through the meadows sowed.

And says old woman Death: “Hey, traveler!

Does any one want linen, linen fit

For funeral wear? A shroud, madam or sir,

I’ll take cheap coin for it!”

And says serene Savoor: “Don’t crow so loud!

Even the winding-sheet is dust, and cracks

And crumbles into earth, that from the shroud

May spring the sky-blue flax.”