Like mountains – on this brow
Laurels of praise.
“I can’t sing!”
– “You will!” – “Sound
(Put me on a diet
of flour!)
Like milk –
Is gone from my breast.
Empty. Dry.
In full-blown spring?
I feel like a twig.”
– “That’s an old song!
Drop it, don’t blabber!”
“From now on I’d better –
Pound gravel!”
– “All the more reason to sing!”
“Am I a bullfinch,
To sing
Day in and day out?”
– “Even if you can’t,
My bird, sing!
Out of spite!”
“What if I can’t
put two lines together?”
-“When could – anyone?!” –
“It’s torture!” – “Bear it!”
“A mown meadow –
My throat!” “Then wheeze:
That’s a sound, too!”
“It’s lions’ business
Not women’s.” – “Children’s:
Though disembowelled –
Orpheus still sang!”
“So, even in the grave?”
– “Under a headstone, too.”
“I can’t sing!”
– “Sing about that!
(Marina Ivanova Tsvetaeva)
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Based on Topics: Birds Poems, Spring Poems, Praise Poems, Diet PoemsBased on Keywords: headstone, bullfinch, disembowelled, blabber