Skip to main content
Outdated Browser

For the best experience using our website, we recommend upgrading your browser to a newer version or switching to a supported browser.

More Information

Poetry

Trees VIII

By Marina Tsvetaeva
Translated from Russian by Nina Kossman

Someone’s heading for a fatal victory.
Trees gesture like tragedies.
Sacrificial dance of Judea!
Trees flutter like sacramentals.

This–a conspiracy against the era:
Against weight, number, fraction, and time.
This–a veil torn apart:
Trees kneel like tombstones . . .

Someone’s arriving: Heaven is the entrance.
Trees salute like festivals.

May 7, 1923

English

Someone’s heading for a fatal victory.
Trees gesture like tragedies.
Sacrificial dance of Judea!
Trees flutter like sacramentals.

This–a conspiracy against the era:
Against weight, number, fraction, and time.
This–a veil torn apart:
Trees kneel like tombstones . . .

Someone’s arriving: Heaven is the entrance.
Trees salute like festivals.

May 7, 1923

Read Next

A young ballerina has lipstick applied to her.