A Poetic Translation from Brodsky

By Anna Polibina-Polansky

The Engish Poetic Translation out of Brodsky

The Swedish Music

To K.Kh.

When the snow flips over the sea and the squeaking pine

Leaves a trace in the air like a shade of a sleigh,

What bluish height can reach the eyes, despite

The dark calmness there? Can the voice, be delayed?

The world disappears, and the face tarnishes, though late.

The conch, so, disperses light, so the silence is of the speed of the sound.

A match will suffice, to burn up a oven. So the heart is found

At the ticking clock. They may stop, but over the sea

They go on, so wisely foreseen.

1975, Stockholm/tr. 2020, Moscow